Operation HOLLY
by Whyareallthegoodpennamesgone
Summary: Numbuh 59 was the best of the best. She could handle anything. But when her double shows up and kidnaps her, can the Kids Next Door figure out what's going on?   WARNING: It's a bit dark. KND is not mine, nor is the books Malice or Havoc. Which are simil
1. Operation HOLLY

Numbuh 59 was one of the best. Arrest rate forty percent higher than everyone else, and she never let an adult or a teen get away. Expert at camouflage, infiltration, and hand to hand combat. She scored highest on the KND IQ test. 59 excelled in riot control, and she learned all her training in six months when it took everyone else a year. It would've been a shame to have her decommissioned one day.

That day never came.

Because, one day, she vanished on the way to the Kids next door clubhouse.

Operation H.O.L.L.Y.

Havoc

Overrules

Life and

Liabilities

Y'know.

"I cannot Believe that Numbuh 59 is your cousin! You must be the luckiest kid in the world!" Numbuh five, aka Abby, kicked her feet against the couch restlessly as she spoke. "Yeah? Try being her cousin when she's outshinin' you in Everything" Numbuh four, aka Wally, glanced at the clock. His cousin Holly was late sometimes, but she was never this late. She was supposed to be here half an hour ago!

"Yeah, but she's Numbuh 59! She's awesome! And didn't you guys tag-team your final field exam when we all were in training?" Numbuh three, aka Kuki, Wally's I-guess girlfriend, asked, cuddling her Rainbow monkey. Numbuh four smiled. That was a fun assignment.

"Numbuh Four! Where's Numbuh 59? She was supposed to be here 'alf an 'our ago!" Numbuh one, Aka Nigel barked as he strode into the clubhouse.

"Dunno. She's late sometoimes, but never this late, especially with video games on the line" Wally slouched further back into his chair.

"Are you sure she's okay? It's really dark out. Let's send a transmission to sector VX to make sure she even left" Numbuh two, aka Hoagie, said, biting his nails.

"Of course she would have left! It's not that far, and she couldn't have gotten lost. This is Numbuh 59 we're talking about. Numbuh 59!"

Nigel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"She's fine. She'll be absolutely fine" Numbuh five looked at the clock.

"Emergency transmission received" appeared on the Kids next door screen. "Play transmission!" Nigel commanded.

Holly's scream filled the room.

"This is not good! SOS and I mean it this time, I'm so scared!" Numbuh 59 sounded panicked, and like she was crying.

"Numbuh 59! What's going on?" Numbuh one tried to get a better uplink.

"Sector V? I'm so sorry, it just...just...came out of nowhere and It's after now, I'm trying to foight it off, I can't hold on much longer...where's Wal? Is he okay?" Holly yelped again, and on the transmission, Sector V caught a glimpse of Holly. She had long thin scratches on her neck, and dirt streaked across her face. Her short blonde hair had fallen out of it's pigtails, and was stuck to her face and neck with sweat and blood.

"Look at me, Holly, everything's going to be okay. Alroight? Nothing bad's going to happen. Now, whot's chasing you? Senior Citizombies again?" Numbuh four looked at the screen, trying to get eye contact with Holly. Holly took in a big shaky breath, and smiled at her younger cousin. "You've grown, Wal. Actually, no you 'aven't, sorry. And I've never even seen what's chasin' me before ever. Well, technically in real life, I saw somethin' like that in January's Havoc once. But that's just just a comic, so yeah"

"Hang on, Numbuh Fifty-nine, help is on the way!" Numbuh five slid across the floor in her sock feet towards the transmitter.

"Wha? No! No no no no no!" Numbuh Fifty-nine started crying.

Numbuh four was shocked. The last time he had ever seen his cousin cry was when she ripped her arm open on a barbed wire fence on her first field training assignment, three years ago.

"You can't! I won't let you! You five don't know what you're up against! Don't believe me? Watch this"

Holly, Agent Fifty Nine, stood up and whistled. "Oy! You! Ugly! It's me! Agent 59! Right here! I'm right here!" Holly screamed.

"Agent Numbuh 59, stop that!" Numbuh two shouted.

"Over here! Roight here! Look! look at me!" Numbuh 59 started to cry again.

"Holly, please don't!" Numbuh four cried.

"Weak. You were always weak. You never would be able to run, y'know that? You're pathetic" Holly said.

But Holly's mouth didn't move.

Holly kept crying, and fell to her knees.

All five members of sector V watched as another Holly stepped into the frame.

But it wasn't Holly. It wasn't it couldn't be. This Holly, Other Holly, sneered, which Holly hardly ever did. Other Holly kicked Numbuh 59 in the stomach and watched her fall over in pain.

"Don't you eva hit my cousin!" Numbuh four screamed at the transmitter. Other Holly looked at the screen of the transmitter and smiled.

That definitely wasn't Holly. It was missing her accent, for one thing.

"Well well well. Hi cousin Wallaby. I miss you. I'll come for you too, y'know. All of you. Who first, who first?" Other Holly scanned the faces of the Kids next door. Then she looked back at Numbuh four. "Your girlfriend first? Or your best friend? Whatever hurts more, hmm?" Other Holly bit her pinky and smiled.

Numbuh four took a step back.

"Leave him alone! He hasn't done anything to hurt you, so, so, leave him alone!" Numbuh three put an arm around Numbuh four's shoulders.

Other Holly glared at Numbuh three. "I think I'll take you first, hmm? Annoying little thing, you are. Tell, me, sweetie, do you get scared? You get scared of things that go bump in the night, right? I know how to break you, sweetie. I can make Numbuh 59 cry, so you shouldn't be too hard" Other Holly giggled.

"Stop...it...Leave...them alone"

Holly stood up, groaning. "They're...my friends. If you hurt them...I'll hurt you" Numbuh 59 glared at Other Holly. "I never said you could talk!" Other Holly screamed. The nails on Other Holly's right hand shot out and Other Holly raked her nails across Numbuh 59's face.

Sector Five gasped.

Numbuh 59 staggered back.

Other Holly closed in for the kill.

Other Holly tipped Numbuh 59's neck back and bit her throat vampire style.

Numbuh 59's body went slack, and Other Holly threw Numbuh 59 over her shoulder.

"I'll see y'all real soon" Other Holly whispered.

And then the transmission cut out.


	2. Information about Havoc

Silence.

"Did that just happen?" Numbuh two asked.

The question seemed to echo. Did they all really see Another Holly kidnap Numbuh 59? And promise to see them real soon?

No. No way.

Impossible.

"How'd Holly get an issue of Havoc? I didn't even know they existed" Numbuh five pursed her lips.

"Numbuh four? Are you okay?" Numbuh three looked at Numbuh four with concern in her eyes.

Numbuh four stared at the black screen. His eyes were wide and empty.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine. Are you okay?" Numbuh smiled weakly.

"Wait. Wait. Numbuh five, what's 'avoc?" Numbuh five pushed his glasses up his nose as he whirled around to face Numbuh five. "You've never heard of Havoc? Where've you Been, Numbuh one?" Numbuh five sat down on the floor of the clubhouse.

Numbuh one glared.

"Okay, okay, don't make that face. Havoc's a comic. And apparently they. like, take real kids from here and write them into the comic. And then those kids are in the comic. But they don't exist. It's a myth! An urban legend!" Numbuh five sighed.

"Oh really? Urban legend? Then wot just took my cousin? A hallucination?"

Numbuh four glowered, then looked back at Numbuh Five. "Is...Holly gonna be okay?" Numbuh four chewed on his lip.

Numbuh five sighed. "Numbuh five can't be sure. There's all sorts of tricks in Havoc. But she probably will be. She's Numbuh 59"

"We'll check out Numbuh 59's 'ouse tomorrow for issues of 'avoc. Nobody goes anywhere tonight" Numbuh one announced and strode out.


	3. Chapter 3

"I kind of expected Numbuh 59's room to be less...purple" Numbuh two said, looking around.

Holly's room was indeed, very purple. From the walls to the bed covering, everything was mostly purple.

It seemed like a typical girl's room, except for the poster collection and the battle plans written on the wall, which were covered by the poster collection.

"Well, let's find that comic!" Numbuh one strode into Numbuh 59's room with purpose. After spending all morning searching for the comic, they found it taped to the bottom of her mattress. "That's such a good hiding place..." Numbuh four admired his cousin's stealth for a split second before Numbuh three opened the mylar sleeve holding Havoc.

The name of the comic was scrawled in gold ink across the black cover.

Numbuh one slowly opened the comic.

And there was Holly.

She was with another boy, who had an eyepatch and a long black coat and six earrings in one ear.

They were both swinging their flashlights around, trying to find something. It was pitch dark, so the only things Sector V could see were Holly, the other boy, and their flashlight beams.

Numbuh 59 raised a finger to her lips and looked at the boy. He nodded and then the two of them split up and looked around.

Numbuh 59 shined her flashlight on the walls. A mosaic of a monster that had tons of claws and teeth and was cat-like glared back at her. Numbuh 59 stuck her tongue out at it.

Numbuh one turned the page.

"I FOUND IT!"

"Shut up Lincoln! But good job" Numbuh 59 said-"It's not like you can tell the tone of her voice. It's a freaking comic" Numbuh 5 pointed out.

The next panel showed a close up shot of the other boy, Lincoln.

He was holding a rusty key on a thick chain. He was smiling, too.

"This is pretty good" Numbuh 59 whispered. "Pretty good? This is excellent! It's the key to the Printworks! The Printworks, Holly! If that's pretty good, let me know what excellent really is" Lincoln smirked as he slid the key around his neck.

"Shut up, Linc-Achoo!"

Holly sneezed.

And something growled.

And then something else growled.

Lincoln shone his flashlight up.

Numbuh one hurriedly turned the page.

Lincoln's flashlight revealed that the rafters above them were filled with Monsters.

They were big, and they had huge claws and teeth and were panther-like.

They glared down at Lincoln and Holly with eyes that had no pupils and prepared to spring.

"BOOK IT!" Lincoln screamed, and He and Numbuh 59 took off, with the monsters chasing after them.

"Do you remember the way back?" Numbuh 59 asked. Their flashlights were swinging crazily and lighting up random snatches of cavern. "Not really! Left!" Lincoln shouted as they turned left. "How can you be sure that last one was left, you Idiot?" Holly asked, looking behind them both for Monster progress, which was too close for comfort. "Just trust me, Holly! Right!" Lincoln yelled as the turned right.

Holly and Lincoln ran, with the monsters chasing after them. Eventually, they ended up next to a small canyon.

"I don't remember this part" Holly said.

"I don't either" Lincoln shone his flashlight behind him. He saw shadows of the monsters on the wall. Lincoln unfurled a whip from his belt, and looped it onto a niche in the ceiling, "I told you a whip would come in handy one day, didn't I Holly, But noooo, you've got to go and make fun of me and my weapon choices!" Lincoln smirked at Holly.

"Lincoln, any other time I would foight you, but if we die now I will return from the grave and haunt you until the world blows up. Which. Will. Be. A. Very. Very. Long. TOIME!" Holly growled and Lincoln put his hands up.

"Okay, Okay. Women are so touchy" Lincoln muttered.

Something howled. Lincoln and Holly whipped around and saw one of the monsters headed right for them.

Lincoln grabbed Holly and swung across the small canyon on his whip.

The monster fell over the lip of the canyon, it's scream dopplering out as it reached the bottom.

"That's a long way down. Like, really really far. I can't believe we swung across that" Lincoln shone his flashlight down, trying to see the bottom. For the first time, he looked scared.

"I really can't believe you, Lincoln. Get through miles of abandoned tunnels? Oh, sure, sound like fun. Find the key to the Printworks? Oh, gee, what delight! Get chased by panther-monsters? You can roll with that. Now you're getting scared of a great big hole. You're a piece of work, my good man" Holly laughed, and Lincoln started to say something, but then another anguished howl from the Panther-monsters came from somewhere close by.

"C'mon! We gotta find the lift!" Holly shone her flashlight around.

Another howl sounded.

"Where's the lift?" Holly screamed.

A growl came from the shadows.

Lincoln screamed and ran.

"No! Lincoln! Stop!" Holly ran after him.

Lincoln kept running, muttering "Find the lift, find the lift, find the lift..."

Holly found it first. "Lincoln! This way! RUN FAST!" she screamed.

Lincoln turned around so fast he fell over and dropped his flashlight. Lincoln's flashlight broke, leaving him stranded in total darkness.

"Holly?" Lincoln whispered. "I dropped my flashlight. Help! Please?"

A pair of eyes that had no pupils opened right behind him, but Lincoln didn't see.

Lincoln shuffled up a little further. "Holly? I'm in the dark here. Holly? I'm getting a little panicked" Lincoln whispered.

The two eyes came closer.

"C'mon, Holly, I'm sorry for whatever I did. Please don't leave me here please I'm sorry so sorry really Holly come back please it's too dark" Lincoln whispered a little louder.

A mouth opened under the two eyes, revealing gleaming teeth.

"Holly? I'm right here. This isn't cool, Holly. Over here. Please don't let me be eaten alive, I heard that it's a really painful way to die"

A stream of drool fell out of the mouth and landed almost silently on the floor.

Lincoln heard it, but he didn't even look. He just stood up and ran. "HOLLY! HOLLY! I'M HERE! MONSTER! MONSTER!" Lincoln yelled.

"LINCOLN! LINCOLN! RUN THE LIFT'S THIS WAY GO GO GO GO!"

Lincoln ran through the darkness, and then he saw the light of the lift.

He also saw the shadow of the monster, but hey, there's light now.

Lincoln ran, with the monster right behind him.

The monster ran too.

The monster was fast.

Lincoln was faster.

He dove into the lift and Holly slammed the grate shut.

The monster screeched and growled, furious that it lost it's prey.

The lift moved up, away from the darkness and possible death. Holly and Lincoln didn't say anything for a long time. Then

"Holly?"

"What?"

"We got the key to the printworks."


	4. Chapter 4

"I really thought that Lincoln kid was going to die"

Numbuh two broke the spellbound silence.

"Did anyone else feel..."

"Like we're in the comic while we're reading? I did, Numbuh three."

Numbuh one sighed.

"Wow. Cousin Holly...just...wow" Numbuh four breathed.

"Yeah. Wow. How can Numbuh 59 deal with all this?" Numbuh five said.

Numbuh four laughed and said "If Holly were here, she'd say she deals with skill."

Sector V took the comic back with them to the clubhouse.

Somehow, it made them feel like everything was slightly more okay.

In the comic, Numbuh 59 had survived.

But she didn't how to get home.

"I mean, Holly doesn't have any Froot Loops. Holly can't function without Froot Loops" Numbuh four worried as he paced back and forth.

Numbuh five heard something gurgle from somewhere inside the clubhouse. "Did anybody hear that?" Numbuh five asked. "Did you hear something?" Numbuh two immediately jumped to her side.

Numbuh five smiled. Numbuh two was sweet. A little stupid, but sweet.

"Yeah. I thought I heard something, but it was nothing"

Numbuh five smiled back at Numbuh two, who smiled wider.

"Gross" Muttered Numbuh four.

That night, Numbuh five was having trouble sleeping. She was either too hot, or too cold.

Numbuh five blamed Cree.

She was about to jump out of bed when she heard something.

Something gurgled deep inside her house.

No. No way.

Numbuh five pulled the blankets up to her shoulders.

She thought about Numbuh 59, who got beat up right before she disappeared. She thought about the thin scratches on Numbuh 59's neck, and on her face and arms.

I'll see y'all real soon.

Is what she said. Now is soon, isn't it?

Numbuh five took a deep breath. Calm down. Chill a little. So the house is making noises. No big deal. It's nothing.

**THUMP.**

That one wasn't the house. Where did that come from? Numbuh five remembered the sharp nails of Other Holly.

No. No she was too young. She-

SHUT UP. Numbuh five can deal with this.

Numbuh five leapt out of bed. She was not going to be taken down by something spooky that looked like her. No way!

Numbuh five grabbed her hat and jammed it onto her head.

Then she started looking.

"C'mon, otha me. I ain't afraid of you. Show up already!"

Numbuh five sneaked through her house in her bare feet.

"I ain't afraid of you!" Numbuh five snarled to her invisible foe.

"Who you gonna call?"

Numbuh five whipped around. That voice came from right behind her!

But nobody was there.

"You can't hide forever" Numbuh five whispered.

"Watch this, sweetie"

Sweetie. No doubt about it that Other Abby was here. But where?

Numbuh five did a tuck-and-roll into her living room. No sign of life. Well, except for herself.

This was getting ridiculous. Numbuh five's house wasn't that big. WHERE WAS OTHER ABBY?

Numbuh five sighed in frustration.

She stood up and started to walk back to her room.

"Giving up already, are we?"

This time, Numbuh five didn't turn all the way around. She looked behind her.

And there was Other Abby.

Other Abby's nails slid out with a soft _shcck_.

Numbuh five aimed a kick at Other Abby's stomach.

Other Abby blocked it and said "You're not good enough for him"

"Shut up! I don't know what you're talking about!" Numbuh five snarled as she tried to punch her double.

"He doesn't love you"

Numbuh five's stomach flipped.

"You are totally wrong! He loves me...I'm totally sure!"

Other Abby's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, you're a stupid girl. He looks right through you. He will never love you ever" Other Abby singsonged as she dug her nail into the wall.

"That...that's not true! That's...a lie...Numbuh two cares about me! I'm sure!" Numbuh five desperately tried to kick out Other Abby's knees, but she missed.

Other Abby snarled as she slashed her nails across Numbuh five's arm.

Numbuh five felt fear, cold fear, seep through her. No. No. Not her. She couldn't. Not her. Control it. Control it.

Other Abby sighed.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Numbuh five"

She said, and tipped Numbuh five's head back.

Other Abby sank her teeth into Numbuh five's neck.

Numbuh five's eyes opened wide, then fell shut.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment Other Abby sank her teeth into Numbuh five's neck, Numbuh one woke up.

It's not like he had a premonition. He didn't even know that Numbuh five had been taken yet.

Numbuh one rolled out of bed. He would sleep better if he had something to eat.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes. WHY WAS HE AWAKE AT-

Nigel checked the time.

THREE IN THE MORNING!

Nigel looked in his mirror.

He sighed. He made a face, and so did his reflection.

Numbuh one got up from his bed and started to walk away.

Then he looked back.

His reflection was still there.

Staring back at him.

Other Nigel pulled his fist back and punched his way through the mirror.

Details got a little fuzzy after that. Numbuh one fought against Other Nigel, but he lost. Horribly.

Numbuh one was only aware of one word before he passed out.

"...Disappointed..."


	6. Chapter 6

"Anybody hear from Numbuh one or Numbuh five?"

Numbuh four asked the other two members.

"No"

"Nope"

"Thought so" Numbuh four sighed and flopped down onto a sofa.

"Did you think that their Others got them?" Numbuh three pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Only one way to find out. Pass that cruddy comic"

The first panel was out of focus.

Somebody groaned.

The view panned to the side to see and arm and a leg belted to a gurney.

"Huh?"

"Welcome to the Shock Box. You Conscious over there?"

Numbuh one looked up. A girl with Black and red pigtails was straitjacketed across the room.

"Are...you talking to me?" Numbuh one asked.

"No, I'm talking to the voices in my head. Of course I'm talking to you!"

"No need to be snippy. I just asked a question. Now. Where am I?"

"You're in the Shock Box" the girl said.

"Shock box?" Numbuh one asked, confusion clouding his face.

"Yes. Shock Box, also known as Shock general Hospital" The girl bit her lip as she snaked her arm up to her shoulder. "That looks a little painful" Numbuh one commented. "Then I'm putting up a good fight, because it's actually a lot painful. What's your name?" The girl asked, moving back and forth, trying to get her arm out of her straitjacket.

"I'm Numbuh one. What's your name?" Numbuh one tried to undo the bonds without much luck.

"I seriously doubt that it says 'Numbuh one' on your birth certificate. I'm Ingrid Michelson" Ingrid popped her arm out of her straightjacket with a victory yell. She then undid the belts on her other arm.

"Wait...is your real name Nigel Uno?" Ingrid looked back at him.

Wally flipped the page.

"'ow'd you know my name?"

"Abby! She talks about you all the flippin time!" Ingrid managed to get both arms free of her straightjacket.

"...Right. So what's so bad about The Shock Box? It's jus' an 'ospital, right?"

Ingrid started undoing Numbuh one's gurney belts. "Just an Hospital! You have no idea what goes on here! Hey" Ingrid leaned closer "Ever wonder where Delightful Children come from? This isn't a hospital. It's a monster factory" Ingrid hissed as she undid the final buckle.

"So...how do we get out of 'ere?"

"Just what I like to hear, Nigel. First, I gotta get some clothes"

Numbuh one and Ingrid crept down the hallway. The entire hallway had been painted white, with storage tanks as large as refrigerators lining the hallway. Numbuh one had taken a brief look through one of the windows on the tanks before Ingrid pulled him away.

What he saw had three arms, long teeth, and compound eyes. Ingrid hadn't been kidding.

"To the lost and found!" Ingrid giggled, and ran down towards a desk down the hall with shelves behind it.

Ingrid climbed up the shelves like a monkey. She threw some combat boots to the ground, along with some camouflage pants and a black t-shirt. "Go stand watch, you. I gotta change" Ingrid commanded as she leapt down from the shelf.

Nigel grumbled as he looked down the hallway.

"What weapon do you want?" Ingrid called when she was done changing.

"Huh?"

"Weapon. I got me a problem stick. If you hit your problems with it, eventually they go away" Ingrid beamed as she showed Nigel her weapon, which was a wooden baseball bat with sharp metal spikes hammered through it.

Problem stick indeed.

"What'd you got, Ingrid?"

"That's the spirit. Blaster with full clip, throwing knives, Tabasco, Cherry, and F bombs, and Black Paint" Ingrid picked up a small white can with "WARNING! BLACK PAINT!" scrawled on the side.

"What's so cool about black paint?" Nigel asked.

"Ever seen any Bugs Bunny cartoons? The black paint is closer to that than Black Paint Black paint" Ingrid pulled a brush out from one of the desk drawers.

"I will take the Black Paint, then."

"Coolio. Try not to get any Black Paint on you. Speaking from experience, here" Ingrid chattered.

Nigel gingerly held the can of Black Paint away from him.

"So, Commander, What's step two?"

"Oh shut up, Nigel. Hospital Staff aren't really too fond of noisy children"

"You're really in danger, then"

"Oh, keep it up, see where it gets you"

"But really, whot's step two?" Nigel asked.

"Right! Step Two! Find the door!" Ingrid glanced down the hallway.

"The door out?" Nigel ran after Ingrid as she booked it down the hallway.

"Not really. See, there's Lifts, and then there's doors. Lifts will take you somewhere else, could be better, could be worse. Doors always take you somewhere better. Always Guaranteed" Ingrid said.

"Ingrid? Whot exactly 'appens at this 'ospital?" Nigel asked.

"Delightfulization. Lobotomies, Monster creation, y'know, that kind of thing" Ingrid sounded grim.

The two of them had gotten to the end of the hall.

They turned the corner without looking, and met two of the hospital attendants.

They were loitering, and maybe around eight feet tall. Both had underbites, with crooked teeth sticking out of their mouths, and orange skin. Beady red eyes glared out from a bulging forehead. Both attendants were wearing white robes, and one had a hacksaw.

The two children stared at the attendants.

The two attendants stared back.

Then one of them roared.

"RUN FOR IT!" Ingrid screamed.

They ran fast, with the attendants footsteps right behind them.

"Whot's the door look like?" Nigel asked, trying to keep pace.

"It can be any colour, but it's got a star on it!" Ingrid screamed as one of the attendants knocked aside a storage tank as though it was a cardboard box.

Nigel looked down a hallway. Instead of storage tanks, the hallway was lined with doors. "This way! Hurry!" Nigel yelled.

Ingrid and Nigel ran down the hallway, trying to find The Door.

Nigel saw it first.

But one attendant had caught up with them.

It reached out a beefy arm and Grabbed Ingrid.

"No! let her go!" Nigel screamed.

Ingrid didn't scream. all she did was bring the bat down onto the creature's hand.

It howled in pain and let her go.

Ingrid sprinted forward, opened the door, and pulled Nigel into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

"Whot d'ya mean THAT'S IT?" Numbuh four yelled.

"I mean, that there's nothing. The comic ends there. We don't know where they ended up." Numbuh two spat.

"Stop it! Numbuh one wouldn't want us to fight with each other, so...so...stop it!" Numbuh three spat.

"Sorry, Numbuh three."

"Yeah. Really sorry"

After the comic ended, Nigel and Ingrid fell through a linen closet.

"Ouch. Nigel, you elbowed me!"

"Ingrid, You Landed On Me! It's not My fault if I end up elbowing you"

"Touchy."

"Well well well. Ingrid finally decided to show up"

A dark shadow blocked the light.

It was Lincoln, in all his pierced-ear eyepatch glory.

Numbuh one stared. It was weird to see somebody from a comic in real life.

Lincoln glared at both of them. Ingrid glared back. "Commander wants to see you" Lincoln said shortly, then turned around and strode away.

"Where am I?" Numbuh one asked.

"You're in the yellow submarine. It's serving as our base for now. We're like, twenty thousand leagues under the sea. Or at least a lake" Ingrid explained.

"Wow. How do you guys get out?" Numbuh one asked.

"We take the submarine to the top, unto the latch, and send out teams in rowboats. Duh" Ingrid said.

"You're going to be late!" Lincoln called.

The two of them hurried to catch up.

Ingrid and Numbuh one were lead into a room that contained a sofa, a tv, and a table.

A boy with glasses and shaggy brown hair rolled off the couch just as Numbuh 59 did a flying kick into where he used to be. "Oh, good. You all showed up. See, Malcolm, I told you they would" Numbuh 59 said to the boy. "Was that before or after you tried to kill me for the fiftieth time today?" Malcolm asked. "Before. And thanks for the input, I really appreciated that, Malcolm, just go ahead and have some more chocolate then" Numbuh 59 put her hands on her hips.

"Ooh, teasing me about my sugar habit, are you? You're a horrible leader, Holly! You can't do anything!" Malcolm screamed.

Then everyone started yelling.

"Both of you, shut up and-"

"Acting like children!"

"Shut up, Malcolm!"

Numbuh one raised one eyebrow.

"Everybody shut it and siddown! We're going to have a nice group meeting whether you want to or not!"

Numbuh five sauntered over from the shadows. "Numbuh one! Numbuh five hasn't seen you for years! How you been?" Numbuh five pulled Numbuh one into a one armed hug. "I've been better, Numbuh five" Numbuh one sighed. "Blech. That's great, you're united at last, can we all get on with the meeting?" Lincoln fell backwards onto the sofa. "You're hurting team Morale quite effectively, Lincoln" Ingrid said.

"Don't care" Lincoln grumbled.

"Sorry I'm late! What's going on?"

A cheery boy with green stick-up troll-style hair, goggles and grease on his face entering the room, grinning.

"Well, Cadel, Holly and Malcolm got in a fight, as per usual, Abby broke it up, and we have a brand new Havoc Kids Next Door member. Meet Nigel Uno, aka Numbuh one, leader of Sector V back on Earth"

Ingrid blurted, then took a huge breath.

"Hey Nigel. Charmed. I'm Cadel Young, the Techie genius and Weapons Coordinator of Havoc KND, at your service" Cadel announced, shaking Numbuh one's hand.

"Wait. Havoc Kids Next Door?" Numbuh one asked.

"You betcha! We're not just going to sit around and lose! We will Fight! And Win!" Numbuh 59 announced.

"And possibly go to Disney world" murmured Lincoln, who was still lying on the couch.

"Okay, Nigel, here's how the wonderful land of Havoc works" Cadel said, unfurling a colour-coded map and sticking it to the table.

"The land we're living in is called Havoc. The city we're in is called Roulette City. With me so far?" Cadel explained.

Numbuh one nodded.

"Good. Now. There are tons of districts in Roulette City. This here's the Jinxx district" Cadel pointed to a section on the map, which was luridly pink. "Don't go there, ever. Unless you want to be brutally murdered by Holly." Cadel said.

"Why?" Numbuh one asked.

Cadel cleared his throat.

Lincoln snickered.

"Lincoln! Thank you for volunteering for telling why you should never go to the Jinxx District ever!" Cadel sat on the edge of the table, and Lincoln sat up.

"Me? Why me? What'd I do? Fine!" Lincoln sighed through his nose.

"There is a lot of bad stuff in the Jinxx district. Don't go there, because we said so" Lincoln started biting his fingernails. Numbuh one wanted to ask questions, but he decided not to.

"So, Cadel, Whot are the other districts?" Numbuh one asked.

Everybody in the room quite obviously sighed with relief.

"Right. See this big gray splodge right here?" Cadel pointed to the middle of the map. "Whot about it?" Numbuh one asked.

"That's the Printworks. One of the most Heavily Guarded places in all of Havoc. It's impossible to get in" Cadel explained.

"Whot's so special about the Printworks?" Numbuh one asked.

"That's where they print the comic. They ship it to the outside world. If we get in..." Cadel trailed off.

"Then we can destroy the Printworks..." Holly said.

"Then there's no more comic..." Malcolm said.

"And no more kids can come here!" Numbuh one finished.

"By why are kids even coming here in the first place?" Numbuh one asked.

"Father!" Responded Numbuh five.

"See, there's this thing called an E-ticket, and if you have it, then you control the childcatchers-" Numbuh five

"Child-whot?"

"Childcatchers. Y'know. The things that look like you with the sharp nails and vampire bites! Anyway" Numbuh five took a breath. "The person who has the E-ticket controls the Childcatchers. You can send the Childcatchers after whoever you want" Numbuh five finished.

"Since father's got the E-ticket, he's sending the Childcatchers after the Kids Next Door!" Cadel announced.

"No way!" Nigel gasped.

"Way" Ingrid said gloomily.

"How do we win, then?" Numbuh one asked.

"We challenge Father. If we win, we're out" Lincoln said.

"And...if...we...lose?" Numbuh asked softly.

Silence.

"We can't lose, Nigel. Alright? We. Won't. Lose." Holly stated.

"That's basically it. Meeting Adjourned!" Numbuh 59 said.

"Wait. One more thing!" Cadel said.

"Meeting unadjourned. Get back here, Lincoln" Numbuh 59 called.

"I got the latest issue of Havoc" Cadel said, pulled out a comic book.

"Who is it?" Malcolm asked.

"Whot's going on 'ere?" Numbuh one asked.

"The comics work both ways. If you can get a copy here, you can see what's going on back in the real world" Numbuh five explained.

Cadel opened the comic.

"Tell it to us straight, Cadel" Lincoln said.

Cadel gave a small gasp.

"Whot happened? Is everyone okay?" Numbuh 59 leaned forward.

Cadel looked up and said

"It's everybody. They've got Numbuhs four, three, and two"


	8. Chapter 8

"Let me see!" Numbuh 59. She leaned forward towards Cadel, trying to see the comic better.

Numbuh one climbed over the back of the couch to see. This copy of Havoc was only in black and white and red, but it was easy to see Numbuh four sitting in the control room. He was just sitting on the floor.

And then the phone rang.

Numbuh four sighed, got up, and answered the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

Cadel flipped the page.

"Hi, Numbuh four! Can...we talk?" the voice on the end of the phone asked.

"Numbuh three, I'm always at the treehouse to talk to" Numbuh four answered.

There was a sigh on the other end, then "No, silly. I need to talk to you...by yourself, okay? Just us?" Numbuh three asked.

"Don't do it, Wally..." Holly whispered.

"Yeah! Sure! Okay! Where should I meet you?" Numbuh four leaned against the wall of the control room.

"Um...how about on the corner of Maple and Crescent? In five minutes, okay? Don't be late!" Numbuh three giggled on the end of the phone.

"Yeah, okay. See you in five?" Numbuh four smiled as her talked.

"Don't be late" Numbuh three said and hung up.

Cadel turned the page.

The next panel showed Numbuh four leaving the treehouse.

"Numbuh four?" Numbuh three called from her room.

Numbuh three left her room. "Numbuh four?" She called again.

"Numbuh two? Anyone? Hello?"

"Hiya there Kuki!" Numbuh four shouted from behind her.

Numbuh three screamed and fell over.

"Sorry. Can we...talk?" Numbuh four asked.

"Talk? About what?" Numbuh three got to her feet.

"Us" Numbuh four held onto Numbuh three's hands.

"Vomit!" Lincoln muttered, and was shushed by Ingrid.

Cadel turned the page.

"N-N-Numbuh four! Really? Is there an...us?" Numbuh three looked at Numbuh four, and squeezed his hand.

Numbuh three closed her eyes as she held onto Numbuh four's hands.

Then she frowned.

She counted Numbuh four's fingers on his left hand.

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

Five...

Six...?

Numbuh three opened her eyes, and saw that she was holding onto her own Childcatcher.

"Surprise. There will never be an us" Other Kuki hissed, and bit down onto Numbuh three's neck.

Numbuh three screamed and went still.

"Numbuh three!"

Numbuh two heard her scream and when to go see what was the matter.

"Numbuh three?" Numbuh two called.

The lights flickered.

"Numbuh three? Where are you? This isn't funny. Are you okay, Numbuh three?"

The darkness behind Numbuh two creeps up behind him. Numbuh two looked, but the darkness stopped moving.

"Numbuh three? Where are you?" Numbuh two pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. He flicked it back and forth along the hallway.

He even turned around and shone it at the darkness behind him.

The light just disappeared, like Numbuh two was shining it into a black hole.

"Uh oh" is all that Numbuh two had time to say before the darkness surged forward and covered him.

"This isn't it" Numbuh four looked at his address. It was a cemetery.

Weird. But Kuki Sanban was here, somewhere. Right?

Numbuh four saw a person standing over by a mausoleum.

Numbuh four smiled, and pushed open the gate.

"Numbuh three! Over 'ere! It's me!" Numbuh four called.

Numbuh three giggled and ran off.

"Wait! Get back 'ere!" Numbuh four called.

He turned around the Mausoleum and saw...

Nothing.

"huh?" Numbuh four whispered. "Where'd she-"

He was knocked over by something landing on his back.

Numbuh four rolled to the side, and the bite that was supposed to go into his neck went into his shoulder instead.

Numbuh four screamed and flung his attacker off him.

Other Numbuh four skidded across the site and stopped.

"Well Well Well. You showed up, did you? Had to come see Kuki and talk about your _future_" Other Wally sneered.

"Shut up!" Numbuh four shouted.

"You make me sick. You're pathetic. One call from you're girlfriend and you come running over in the middle of the night to talk" Other Wally took a step closer.

"If I knew it was you, I would've walked slower" Numbuh four snarled.

"Ooh, funny and Short. What a combination!" Other Wally smirked.

Numbuh four launched himself at his childcatcher. Numbuh four gave an excellent punch to the eye to Other Wally, but Other Wally shot out his fingernails and scratched Numbuh four's arm.

Numbuh four started to run.

He hid behind a gravestone, hoping he wouldn't be found.

"You want to play hide and seek now? Hmm? I always win. Just ask your cousin. She put up a bit of a fight, too, but I got her, didn't I?"

Numbuh four clenched his fists, but stayed still.

"You're girlfriend? Kuki Sanban? She didn't fight at all. I just bit her. Bit Her! No fun at all. You're much more fun. Putting up fights" Other Wally kicked a gravestone, shattering it. "But you're stupid. Did you really think that Numbuh three cares about you? When I caught her, I asked about you. She said there was no you. And that there never would be one" Other Wally said.

Numbuh four couldn't believe it.

No. No. Numbuh three? Just...No.

A shadow fell across him.

"There you are"


	9. Chapter 9

"That is not good" Lincoln said when Cadel turned the final page.

"No kidding. Cadel! Map!" Numbuh 59 commanded.

Cadel laid out the color coded map of Havoc on the floor.

Numbuh one noticed a new section. "Was that there before?" he asked.

"Probably not. The thing about this map is that it shows what's going on in each district. It's kind of like the Marauder's Map in Harry Potter" Cadel explained.

"What is that district anyway?" Malcolm leaned forward.

"The Menagerie is back in town, by the looks of things" Ingrid said, stretching out on the floor.

"What is this "Menagerie"?" Numbuh five asked, using finger quotes.

"It's like a circus. Kind of sort of maybe not really. Yeah, it's a bad place to end up, but it's better than the Shock Box, or the Printworks, or the Tunnels" Lincoln said.

"The tunnels is where we found the key to the Printworks. They run under the city. They've been there forevah" Numbuh 59 said.

"Focus, people. So they're in the Menagerie, probably. What time are we rolling out?" Cadel asked. "One hour. Do you guys want to come?" Numbuh 59 turned and looked at Numbuhs One and Five.

"Wait wait wait wait. What was that? They haven't even gone through training yet! Nigel's only been here an hour, at most, but you're letting him go! They could die, Holly! What are you thinking, I'd genuinely like to know"

Lincoln shouted, and he stood up.

Numbuh 59 stood up too. She was shorter than Lincoln, but it didn't seem to matter.

"We could all die, Lincoln. I could, you could, at any toime out there! Nobody's invincible, Lincoln, not even yourself! They're goin' to be goin' because if they don't, my cousin will die, Okay? You get it?" Numbuh 59 screamed.

"Got it" Lincoln muttered, glaring at Numbuh one and Numbuh five.

"Good. Now take Nigel and Abby to get equipment. Meeting adjourned!" Numbuh 59 announced and left the room.

Lincoln sulked while taking Numbuh one and Numbuh five to the weapons room.

"Lincoln, man, look..." Numbuh five started.

Lincoln whirled around and grabbed Numbuh five by her collar, lifting her off the floor. "Listen, Kiddo. If you screw up and die tonight, guess who takes heat for it? Not Holly. ME. So do me a favour, both of you. DO. NOT. SCREW. UP." Lincoln snarled and dropped Numbuh five. She landed on her feet, and pulled down her pink hat. "What's up, Link? You're never this cranky, even after that time you shot yourself in the foot with a blaster. Spill it" Numbuh five leaned against the wall. Lincoln half-sighed, half-laughed. "I grew up in the menagerie, Abby. Bad memories, trust me. But I can navigate the place blind, or in my case, half-blind" Lincoln said, pointing to his eyepatch. "There are some pretty cool toys there, I must admit" Cadel called from down the hall. "Curse you Cadel Young for ruining the moment!" Lincoln called.

Cadel just laughed.

The Weapons Room looked exactly like one would think a Weapon's Room would look like, with brushed metal walls, pull-out drawers full of bombs, and thick snowboard-like things lined the walls.

"What're these?" Numbuh five asked, taking a snowboard down from the wall. "Patience, young cricket. These're hoverboards, and yes, you do get one" Lincoln said.

Cadel popped up from behind a bench, holding a pair of gloves. "I found them!" he told them triumphantly, pulling them on.

Lincoln groaned. "Cadel Young with super strong punches. May God have mercy on our souls" Lincoln said, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. I can punch through a tank with these things. Who wants Black Paint?" Cadel asked. "I do I do I do!" Malcolm called from the other side of the Weapons Room. "Heads up!" Cadel called, throwing the can to Malcolm.

"Listen up, Nigel. This is how Hoverboards work. You get bracelets and a belt to let the Hoverboard track where you and your centre of gravity is" Ingrid explained, Tossing him a hoverboard and bracelets and a belt. Ingrid pulled a Hoverboard off the wall for herself. She pulled on her bracelets and her belt and got on. Her hoverboard rose a foot off the floor.

"Stick your hand out to the left side for Cherry Bombs, Right for Tabasco Bombs, and put your hand behind you for F bombs. Any questions?" Ingrid hovered off the floor, shifting her weight from side to side.

"What do the bombs do?" Numbuh one asked.

"I'm glad you asked. Cherry bombs are regular bombs, y'know, throw them, they smoke and go boom. Tabasco Bombs melt whatever they come in contact with. F bombs can deafen you opponents or yourself, if you don't cover your ears" Ingrid did an almost horizontal flip on her board with a small yelp.

"Yeah. They're called Sonic Boom bombs until Lincoln renamed them to F bombs" Cadel called.

"Do you still get the gloves that can punch through anything, Cadel?" Malcolm called. "Yes. Quit asking, because you're never getting them. Never ever ever ever Ever!" Cadel jeered.

"Whatever. Okay, Nigel, on a hoverboard, you shift your weight to your back foot to stop, Shift your weight forward to go faster, and if you have to go over something, raise your knees into your chest. Got that?" Ingrid pulled her spiky bat off the shelf.

Numbuh one's head was spinning with everything he was supposed to remember, but he managed to squeak out a "Yes?"

"Relax. Clamps go over your shoes if you go fast, and if you do fall off, then the hoverboard will fly really quick to catch you" Numbuh 59 said, walking into the Weapon's room.

Holly grabbed a sword, some armor from the corner, and a hoverboard and started to leave. "C'mon, you guys. I'm leaving in an hour with or without you" she said back over her shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10

The group whizzed across the landscape, ignoring the snap to the air and trying to keep their balance. Tension was high, but adrenaline was higher.

Lincoln ruined the moment by running into a tree.

He followed it up with a string of curse words.

"Be any more unprofessional?" Holly asked, looking back at him. "This is why we don't let the blind people on the Hoverboards" Malcolm quipped. "Shut up!" Lincoln snarled.

Everybody giggled but didn't say anything.

The Menagerie sprung out of nowhere, a mass of dark shapes in the black sky. Lincoln started to take deep breaths.

"Chill, dude. We're here" Numbuh five said, coasting up beside him.

Numbuh one shifted his weight forward. He loved Hoverboarding. You couldn't go very high off the ground but you went fast. Numbuh one leaned forward more and pulled away from the group. "Careful. If your board overheats from you going too fast, the engine will melt and your Hoverboard will catch on fire. If you burn through your board, then you don't get a new one!" Ingrid called. Numbuh one slowed down.

The shape of tents and rides popped up like a picture book.

"Sort into teams. Cadel's with me" Numbuh 59 slowed down and took one foot off her Hoverboard. Malcolm grumbled a bit, but took Numbuh 5 as backup. Numbuh one took Ingrid as his backup, and Lincoln said he was perfectly adept by himself, thank you very much.

"Let's go this way!" Ingrid called. The Menagerie was dark and eerie, and any small movement could be hostile, but Ingrid's incessant chatter helped fill the silence.

"Shh!" Numbuh one hissed, but glided after her on his hoverboard down the maze of tents.

There was a stage in the middle of the path. On the stage was a glass box full of unnaturally blue water.

Ingrid eased her hoverboard up the stage and looked into the box.

"Nigel! Nigel come see! It's Creepy!" Ingrid called.

Numbuh one got off his hoverboard and ran over to the Box. Cupping his hands around his eyes and peering in, he could see what Ingrid was talking about.

A girl with black hair floated in the box, hair streaming around her like a mermaid's. She wasn't breathing, and her loose green clothes billowed in the water like an open parachute frozen in time.

Green. No. Not good.

"Numbuh three!" Numbuh one gasped.

"Dude. You know her?" Ingrid asked.

"She-she-she's on my team! Sector V! We've got to get her out!" Nigel yelled, pounding on the box.

"Watch what a Little Cherry can do" Ingrid said, pulling out a bright red Cherry bomb. Ingrid fixed the bomb to the glass. She pressed the center of the bomb and backed up. Numbuh one followed suit.

'Beep...'

'Beep...'

'Beep...'

**BANG. **

The entire box exploded, even better, even cooler than Numbuh two's 2x4 technology. Cadel was awesome. The murky water shot everywhere and evaporated instantly.

Numbuh three lay in the middle of the wreckage. Ingrid flew back on her hoverboard and shook Numbuh three awake.

"Huh? What? What just happened?" Numbuh three slurred as she snapped out of it. She looked around at the stage and the broken glass, at the Menagerie, and at Ingrid and her hoverboard.

"What's going on?" Numbuh three asked finally.

"Relax, child. Welcome to Havoc. It's an alternate universe that exists inside a comic book. You are not insane" Ingrid pulled Numbuh three up onto her hoverboard, adjusting her own weight so that the board would hold two of them.

"Oh. Kay." Numbuh three said slowly.

Then from on the other side of the Menagerie, something blew up.

"That was easily the most amazing thing I have ever seen ever!" Numbuh two screamed. "You could've blown us up, Cadel! Whot were you thinking?" Holly screeched. "I was thinking that showing off wouldn't hurt. It's just a couple Cherry bombs, Holly. You detonate those all the time" Cadel wiped dirt off his face. Cadel had simultaneously blown up five cherry bombs purely because Numbuh two had dared him to do it. Cadel had found Numbuh two locked in an empty cage under the biggest tent in the centre of the Menagerie. Holly grumbled something about being surrounded by idiots, but let the two techo-geeks have their fun.

Lincoln muttered curses as he cut the final string.

Numbuh four fell to the ground. "Ow! Who're you?" he asked, staring at Lincoln. "You know who I am, Ignorant child. I am Lincoln Pierce, your cousin's boyfriend" Lincoln smirked. "No! Really? No! Seriously?" Numbuh four followed Lincoln. "Psych!" Lincoln yelled. "Don't do that!" Numbuh four said, laughing.

"Lincoln? Is that my unfinished puppet? You're a horrible child then, and you're even worse now"

a creaky voice called, with a dragging sound behind it.

Lincoln's face went from joking to fear. He put a finger to his lips and pulled Numbuh four down behind one of the many tables that was in the Puppet master's tent. Lincoln looked down the row, and after seeing it was clear, did a tuck-and-roll to the other side. Numbuh 4 copied him.

"What're we-" Numbuh four started to say, but Lincoln punched him and shook his head.

A hand landed on Lincoln's shoulder, and another hand clamped over his mouth.

Numbuh four was relieved to see the short blonde pigtails of his favourite cousin.

Lincoln was less than pleased.

"Two friends, Lincoln? Matilda would have been so happy. Where are you, my puppet?" the voice called again.

"Go" Holly mouthed at them.

Lincoln shook his head. "I'm not leaving you here" He mouthed back to Holly.

"I'll be fine. Go. Just go" Holly mouthed and gave Lincoln a small shove.

Lincoln looked sadly at Holly "Holly, I really want you to know that I am-" Lincoln whispered, but Holly punched him.

"There you are" the voice called.

Holly gave Lincoln and Numbuh four a final shove and the two of them fell out of the tent.

Lincoln stood up and started to walk away from the Puppet Master's tent. He stared down at his feet and walked slowly.

Numbuh four watched him. "You can't leave my cousin there!" He called.

"Watch this" Lincoln called back.

"You're not giving up, are you?" Numbuh four ran to catch up.

Then something howled, followed by a screech of metal-on-metal.

"Clearly, somebody in a high position of power hates me" Lincoln muttered.

"Whot was that?" Numbuh four asked, shaking.

"Something that loves to eat children. I'm not leaving Holly here. I'm not leaving you here. We're all in this together, even though I probably just gave myself an allergic reaction from that Cliché" Lincoln said, pulling out his whip.

Numbuh four grinned. He liked violence.

The two boys snuck back to the Puppet master's tent.

Numbuh four could hear humming.

Lincoln looked like he was going to be sick.

Numbuh four dived into the tent.

Near the back of the tent, a wooden figure sat on a bench, hunched over a table. "My pretty puppet, you're much better than Lincoln was" it crooned.

Lincoln took a step back.

Numbuh four glared.

Lincoln took two steps forward.

"Put her down" Lincoln snarled, ready to spring.

The wooden figure straightened up.

"Lincoln. I never finished your eyes. It's so nice of you to come back so I can finish them" it said.

"Shut up!" Lincoln snarled.

"Matilda loves you" it whispered.

Lincoln swore and launched himself at the Puppet Master.

Lincoln knocked over the Puppet Master and Numbuh four finally saw what he looked like.

The Puppet Master looked like a puppet that had been held underwater too long. It's face was warped, with sunken holes where the eyes should be. It's fingers were knobbly and warped, bunched over each other like claws.

Lincoln stood up and ran to the table. He lifted up what the Puppet Master had been working on.

"Get me a knife!" Lincoln screamed.

Numbuh four grabbed a knife off a nearby table and handed it to him.

Lincoln sunk the blade into the puppet's face, slitting out eyes, and then a mouth.

The puppet breathed.

Numbuh four tried to get a look at whatever it was.

It was Holly.

Her pigtails had been undone, and she was wearing a pink dress and pearls.

She looked at Lincoln, at her cousin, then down at herself.

"Why am I in a dress?"


	11. Chapter 11

Lincoln helped Holly off the table. "I hate dresses. Where are my elastics?" Holly whined, gathering her hair into her normal pigtails.

A howl sounded outside.

"Holly, right now we have more important problems than dresses and hair ties. Like, for example, Where The Heck Is Your Hoverboard At?" Lincoln glanced around.

"Umm...There! In the corner!" Holly proudly pointed it out.

"Splendid" Lincoln said with a certain amount of sarcasm.

The three of them ran through the Menagerie, trying to find the rest of their team.

Then a voice rang out from the sky.

"Kill the two blondes, but leave the black haired one for me"

"Got any hair dye?" Lincoln quipped.

"Ha ha ha. Where's your Hoverboard, Lincoln?" Holly asked.

"I, um..."

"You lost it?"

"No! I just...temporarily misplaced it!"

"I seriously just can't believe you! You have what it takes to be a leader, Lincoln-"

"Holly, if I wanted to be yelled at, I'd find a family!"

Numbuh four was bored. He spotted a box lying next to a nearby tent. Written in Huge, Bold Letters was:

**CONTAINS EXPLOSIVES. KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN!**

Well, it had to be good, whatever it was.

Numbuh four pried open the box with his fingernails while Lincoln and Holly bickered. The box was full of brightly coloured cylinders. Were those Fireworks? No. Yes? Maybe?

Only one way to find out.

Numbuh four rummaged through the box, looking for a lighter or matches. At the bottom of the box, there was a heavy cylinder with a handle, an opening at one end, and a pump.

Numbuh four didn't recognize it.

He pulled out a yellow possible firework from the box and looked at the heavy cylinder. By the looks of things, the cylinder went on his shoulder. Numbuh four tried to fit the Firework into the hole, but it didn't fit. He slid his fingers across it the cylinder, looking for clues.

He found a flip switch.

Numbuh four flipped the switch and a small door in the side of the cylinder slid open.

Numbuh four checked to see if Lincoln and Holly were still arguing.

They were.

Numbuh four shoved the firework into the gap, and flipped the switch again.

The door slid closed.

He heaved the cylinder onto his shoulder.

Now, how did this thing shoot?

Numbuh four grabbed the pump and pulled it in.

And absolutely nothing happened.

Sighing disappointedly, He let go of the pump.

The firework went off with an earsplitting **BOOM!** and Numbuh four was throw backwards.

The firework went into a nearby tent

and the tent caught on fire.

HOW COOL WAS THIS?

"What was that? I want one!" Holly screamed as she ran towards her cousin.

"Well, too bad. I got it, it's moine!" Numbuh four pulled the launcher out of Holly's reach.

Holly, Lincoln, and Numbuh four clambered around the box of fireworks. Holly's blonde hair had fallen over her shoulder, and then Lincoln said the only thing that could make the situation awkward.

"You look Pretty."

"Er...Whot was that?" Holly asked, blushing. "N-nothing! You look pretty, uh, girly. Yeah, that's it. You look pretty girly. Let's go with that" Lincoln rambled, blushing.

Then they heard something.

Clank.

Clank.

Thump.

Clank.

Clank.

Thump.

A wolf walked out of the shadows.

It was made completely out of metal, with thick gears sticking out of it's back. Metal lips curled back over metal teeth, and the Mechanical Wolf growled.

"So...we run now?" Holly asked.

"Good plan" Lincoln said.

And then they ran.

The clanking of the Mechanical wolf followed them as they ran to somewhere else.

"Where the crud do we go now?" Numbuh four asked, trying to keep up.

A firework burst in the sky.

About ten more followed it.

"That's Cadel for sure" Lincoln said.

A train whistle sounded.

"Follow that! Let's go this way!" Holly said. Lincoln gave Holly the Hoverboard and grabbed the firework Launcher.

"Whot are you doing? You're wasting time!" Holly reached for his hand, but Lincoln pulled back.

"Holly, you and Wally have got a death warrant on your heads. I'm safe, kind of. Get to somewhere safe, okay?" Lincoln said.

Holly looked up at Lincoln, pushed her hair out of her eyes, and said one word:

"**NO!" **

"Good try, mate, it was worth a shot"

"Thanks, Wally"

Another metal wolf jumped off a tent and landed in front of them.

Lincoln grabbed the launcher and took a shot at the wolf.

He missed by a mile, but the wolf ran away.

"Let's go!" Lincoln screamed.

They turned a corner, and they found the rest of the team.

In a train.

"What are you waiting for? RUN YOU IDIOTS!" Cadel yelled.

Wally, Lincoln and Holly ran for the train and jumped on.

"Numbuh four!" Numbuh three exclaimed.

"Numbuh three!" Numbuh four exclaimed.

"Ingrid!" Ingrid exclaimed.

Ingrid was glared at by Numbuh Three and Numbuh four.

"Sorry. Felt a bit left out there" She muttered, giggling slightly.

"We good to go?" Numbuh one asked Cadel.

"Not yet. We still need Malcolm" Numbuh two said.

"Yeah. We got split up when those metal dogs attacked us" Numbuh five said.

"There he is! Run Malcolm! Run!" Ingrid screamed and pointed out the window.

Everybody ran and looked where she was pointing.

Malcolm was limping quickly. Three mechanical wolves were right behind him.

"Go! Go! You can do it Keep goin!" Numbuh five shouted.

One of the metal wolves pounced and tackled Malcolm.

"NO!" Everyone screamed.

Malcolm screamed, a garbled sound of terror, and the wolves pulled him back into the Menagerie.

And then it was quiet, as if nothing had happened.

"No. Malcolm No" Lincoln whispered.

"We've got to...keep going" Cadel said, wiping the heel of his hand across his face.

"He's still alive! We've got to save him!" Numbuh three shrieked.

"He's not going to be alive by the time we get there, okay? We've just got to let go and move on" Numbuh two whispered.

"He's right. We've got to get back. We can't lose any more people tonight" Numbuh one said.

Holly started crying.

Lincoln wrapped his arms around her.

"Cadel, let's go" Lincoln whispered.

"Roger Roger. Seatbelts, everyone. I doubt we're going to get a straight shot out of here" Cadel went into the front of the train and released the brake.

The train chugged forward, away from the Menagerie.


	12. Chapter 12

"I-I-I-I just can't believe he's dead. I know we fought all the time, but he was a good person, just addicted to sugar, y'know? I feel so h-h-horrible!" Holly sobbed.

Holly managed to quiet down five minutes later. The train out of the menagerie shuttled back and forth.

Numbuh two slid open the door.

"Cadel says to put your seatbelts on now" Numbuh two stated, and then left.

Everybody buckled up, but nothing happened.

Silence.

"Well, not that this isn't fun but-" Ingrid started to say, and nobody ever found out the but, because the train dropped.

There was no warning. The train was going straight, then all of a sudden, the tracks spiraled downwards.

Holly and Numbuh three screamed.

Lincoln, Numbuh four, and Numbuh one forgot how to scream.

The train spiraled down, and then shot along straight again. They were going twice as fast as they were before.

"Well..then. I'm going to...go kill...Cadel. Anybody want to join?" Ingrid asked, unbuckling her seatbelt and sliding to the floor.

"We going Cadel hunting? Count Numbuh five in" Numbuh five announced, her cool factor not slipping even though she looked really green.

Ingrid, Numbuh four, and Numbuh five marched up to the front of the train.

Numbuh five heard Numbuh two crack a lame joke and Cadel laughing.

Ingrid slid the door open.

"Hey, Ingrid. What's up?" Numbuh two asked.

"You look angry. Why do you look angry?" Cadel eyed Ingrid warily.

"So Cadel, blasters are basically waterguns, right?" Numbuh two asked, trying to ignore Ingrid's waves of wrath.

"Pretty much. They're pretty useless. Ingrid, are you mad at me? I could sing or something, that usually makes you laugh and it calms you down right? Right? Please don't kill me, Bing Bang"

Ingrid rolled her eyes and spat into her palm.

"Cooties!" She screamed, slamming her palm into Cadel's forehead.

"Arg! Ingrid! That's disgusting! You've probably given me mono or, or, or, girl germs or something!" Cadel screamed, clawing at his forehead.

Numbuh five spat into her palm too.

"Ingrid? Is this just you, or can anyone play?" She asked, eyeing Cadel, who's hands had frozen and was staring right at Numbuh five.

"Abby, Abby, Abby. You wouldn't do this? We're friends, right? Right. Don't give me germs, I don't even have any hand sanitizer with me right now"

Cadel turned his chair around, trying to keep it between Numbuh five and himself.

"Careful, you two. Don't sit on the emergency brake, or the actual brake, or the Gofaster button" Numbuh two said, trying to watch Cadel and the tracks at the same time.

The train swerved around a corner and everybody who was not wearing a seatbelt, aka Cadel, Numbuh five, Numbuh four, and Ingrid, fell over.

"Whot's a Gofaster button?" Numbuh four asked.

"A Gofaster button is a button that makes the train Go faster" Cadel explained.

"Oh yeah. Makes sense" Numbuh four brightened.

Something slammed into the side of the train.

"What the crud was that?" Numbuh four asked.

The lights flickered.

"Guys?" Ingrid said, "I think you better take a look outside."

Everybody in the front of the train went to the window and looked outside.

Numbuh five wiped a layer of fog off the train window.

And then the lights went out.

The door slid open, and Ingrid screamed.

"Chill out. It's just us" Lincoln said.

"Cadel, what's going on?" Numbuh one asked.

"Haven't a clue" Cadel said.

Another explosion rocked the train.

"Is somebody shooting at us?" Numbuh three asked.

Lincoln wiped some more mist off the window.

"I think I see another train" he whispered.

"Where?" Holly and Numbuh one shoved Lincoln out of the way.

"See? Over there. It's another train" Ingrid said, pointing.

There was another train, shuttling long across from them.

"There's letters on the side, I think. I can't read them, it's too dark" Numbuh Three squinted through the window.

"Let me see...D...E...No, F...C..." Cadel trailed off, looking at the side of the train.

"DFC?" Numbuh two asked.

"The Delightful Children? No way!" Numbuh five gasped.

Another shot rocked the train.

"Seeing as they're shooting at us, yeah, it's kind of likely" Lincoln said.

"Roight then! Ingrid! Where're the weapons?" Holly ordered.

"Um, I think I left them back in the other cabin..." Ingrid trailed off as Holly marched out of the room, pink dress billowing.

"This is going to end well" Lincoln commented, settling into a seat.

Holly returned a moment later, looking surprisingly menacing in her pink dress with a firework launcher on her shoulder.

"Normally I don't condone violence-" Holly started to say.

"Holly, you are one of the most violent people I know, right up there with the Tasmanian Devil" Lincoln stated, folding his arms behind his head.

Holly rolled her eyes and opened a window.

"Ready..." Cadel said.

"Aim..." Ingrid giggled.

"FIRE!" Everyone else shouted.

Holly squeezed the trigger and the firework ran straight into the other train.

"Direct hit! We got 'em!" Numbuh two yelled.

Then there was another explosion.

Numbuh two and Cadel checked the front of the train.

"I don't think it hit us..." Numbuh two said uncertainly.

"Look! It hit the track!" Numbuh three yelled and pointed.

There was a gaping hole in the train track, not that far from them.

"Man, I despise those children" Lincoln said.

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Are we gonna die? I don't wanna die!" Numbuh three panicked.

"Nobody's gonna die, so shut up and quit panicking!" Holly shouted.

"We jump" Cadel said.

"WHAT?" Everybody asked.

"Just trust me!" Cadel shouted, opening the door of the train.

"Are you crazy?" Numbuh five shouted.

"No! Well, maybe a little. Just jump, okay?" Cadel held the door open.

"I trust you. Just don't let me die" Holly said.

She strode to the door and jumped off the train.

"HOLLY!" Numbuh four and Lincoln shouted at the same time.

Lincoln jumped out after Holly.

"What an idiot" Ingrid said, shaking her head, but then jumped out too.

Numbuh three jumped out next, followed by Numbuh one, Numbuh four, and Numbuh five.

"I can't do it! I'm scared!" Numbuh two screamed, staring down at the inky blackness and the wheels of the train.

Cadel sighed, planted his foot on Numbuh two's back, and shoved him off.

Cadel then pulled his goggles over his eyes and then jumped.

Everybody fell through the blackness.

Then, one by one, they all slowed down and stopped.

The train careened through the hole in the track and fell past them.

"Physics seems to be on a coffee break" Numbuh one said.

"This is amazing. Cadel, how'd you know this would work?" Holly asked.

Cadel grinned.

"I didn't" he said.

"Guys! Do you see a light over there?" Numbuh four asked.

"Hey, wait a minute, are we dead?" Numbuh one asked.

"For my sake, I hope not" Cadel commented.

"Let's go towards it, what's the worst that could happen?" Lincoln asked, walking off.

"Sometimes, I really hate him" Holly sighed, and followed.

The light lead to a ladder.

"I heard about a light, but I never heard about no ladder" Numbuh five commented.

Lincoln started climbing the ladder.

Ingrid took a running start and jumped on the ladder.

"I think it's safe!" Ingrid called back.

The ladder lead to a manhole cover. Lincoln pushed the cover off the manhole and climbed out.

"Guys! You've got to see this!" He called down.

Lincoln helped everyone out.

"Wow" Numbuh three breathed.

The closest thing that you could compare it to was Times Square. Signs lit up, flashed and fizzled. The models in the advertisements moved and offered free products to whoever passed by. Carriages pulled by muscly monsters wheeled by instead of cars. Buskers performed on the sidewalk around them, playing instruments with thousands of keys. Circus performers breathed fire and juggled knives right next to the buskers. Potted plants swayed like seaweed and sent out grabby tendrils to whoever walked too close.

The building around them towered high like skyscrapers. There were stairs and elevators on the outsides of them, and some buildings rotated so that the people inside would get different views.

Cadel took out his map that was tucked into his boot.

"Aha. We're in the Abracadabra district" Cadel said triumphantly.

"I didn't even know Roulette City had an Abracadabra District" Holly murmured.

"Abracadabra District, you say? I know just the place!" Lincoln shouted.

"For what?" Ingrid asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Seeing as you and Nigel here have pulled an All-Nighter or two, I think we should find somewhere to stay. I know where that place is!" Lincoln explained, talking with his hands.

"Okay. Let's go. I'm exhausted anyway" Numbuh four muttered.

"Follow me!" Lincoln shouted, and pulled them all down the crowded sidewalk.

They arrived at a hotel a few minuted later. "The Neon Trees?" Holly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! I worked here after I got out of the Menagerie for a while" Lincoln said.

Lincoln pushed the doors of the lobby open.

"Hey Mac! It's me!" Lincoln shouted to nobody in particular.

"Lincoln, m'boy!" a fat, squat, Toad-like creature sat behind a desk at the end of the room. "My friends and I need a room. We're kind of broke right now, but can you work something out?" Lincoln asked.

"Of course, of course. You've grown so much! And you have more earrings than I remember" Mac said, scratching his chin.

"I know, I know. How bout a room?" Lincoln asked, putting an elbow on the desk.

"How many?" Mac asked, staring shortsightedly at the group before him.

"One Two Three Four Five Six Seven...Eight! Room for Eight please!" Lincoln asked.

"Sure, Sure. For Payment-" Mac started to say.

"We're broke" Lincoln said flatly.

"I do like you're friend's necklace there. If you give it to me, some candy might find it's way to your room too..." Mac trailed off, smiling.

"Holly, Fork over that necklace. Please" Lincoln asked.

Holly smiled, unclipped her necklace and handed it to Lincoln.

"Here y'go" Lincoln threw the pearl necklace on the desk.

Mac swept it up and tossed Lincoln a key.

"Room 1983" He said.

"Thanks, man. I owe you one"

"Don't mention it, Lincoln, m'boy"

Havoc KND clambered up the stairs.

The stairs stopped at a window.

"Whot's this then?" Holly asked.

Lincoln shouldered his way to the front of the group, opened the window, and stepped out.

"Come on!" He called.

They all climbed out the window, and followed a set of stairs that led to another window. Lincoln jammed the key into the center of the window and then turned to the right.

The window slid open and Lincoln climbed through.

"Whatever happened to Ladies First?" Ingrid asked from the back of the group.

"I believe in equal treatment" Lincoln called back.

Havoc KND, minus one, climbed through the window and slid it shut.


	13. Chapter 13

"I can't find the lights!" Lincoln called.

Ingrid flipped the lights on.

"It was right next to the window, smartie" she said, smirking.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious" Lincoln muttered.

"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm" Ingrid shot back.

The hotel room, 1983, was Huge. Four sets of bunk beds had been bolted to the wall. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and all the chairs in the room were red velvet movie chairs. A wooden table sat in the middle of the room like an obese toad. Piled on the table was a wire, three economy size packs of Redvines, four packs of Pockys, and a rock of uncut chocolate.

"That is not a bar of chocolate. That is a small, sugary, chocolatey boulder. I have never seen so much chocolate in one form in my entire existence" Cadel said, flipping up his goggles.

"Cadel, you are on probation because you all shoved us off the train and could have gotten us all killed" Holly murmured, sinking into a red chair.

"I'm so tired...I miss my rainbow monkeys..." Numbuh three whined.

"I to-to-totally heart rainbow monkeys too. They're ad-or-able" Ingrid yawned at the start of her sentence.

Numbuh four fell asleep on the carpet.

"Ingrid? Since when are you into rainbow monkeys?" Lincoln asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Since always. You're just not into girls or girl stuff" Ingrid called.

"That's totally lie. Lincoln likes girls, especially if their name's-" Cadel started to say, but then Lincoln cut him off.

"SHUT UP!" Lincoln roared, flinging his boot at Cadel.

Cadel snickered and promptly fell asleep.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

"Can we at least draw on his face?"

"Uh, no. He'd kill us. Wake up, you!"

POKE.

POKE.

POKE.

JAB.

Lincoln reluctantly opened his working eye. Numbuh four happily munched on a Pocky stick. "What's going on?" Lincoln asked, surveying everyone.

"You fell asleep, Link" is all Numbuh five had to say, before Holly grabbed his shirt.

"WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! DON'T YOU EVER PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT AGAIN OR I'LL KICK YOU OUT OF HAVOC KND! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?"

"Well now, Mardy Bum, I see your frown and it's like looking down a barrel of a gun. Bang, and it goes off" Lincoln sang.

Holly looked confused.

Cadel joined in.

"And out come all these words, but there's another side to you, a side I much prefer!" Lincoln spun Holly around, trying to get her to dance.

Holly just giggled.

"You're insane! But I like you anyway" Holly said, rolling her eyes.

"Amazing. Pass the Pockys, Wally" Lincoln fell back into a chair.

Numbuh four threw the Pockys at Lincoln, who caught them.

"Mmm?" Ingrid raised her head from the floor. Her hair was a mess and she looked like she'd been fighting for her life recently, which she had.

"Sugar..." Ingrid moaned, getting off the floor and wandering over to the table and snacking down on Redvines.

"Do we have a plan?" Numbuh one asked nobody in particular.

"Uh no. This is not good. Holly!" Numbuh five called. She was looking out the window at the busy street below.

"Whot happened?" Holly flew to the window.

Everybody crowded around the window. In the street below, there was a bulletin board. In big, black, accusing letters, it said:

**THESE ARE PUBLIC ENEMIES NUMBER ONE. IF YOU SPOT THEM, PLEASE CONTACT FATHER, SHOCK GENERAL HOSPITAL, OR THE PROPER AUTHORITIES. **

On the billboard, there were pictures of them all.

"That's really inconvenient" Numbuh two commented.

"That's it!" Numbuh three screamed.

Everybody stared at her.

"First kidnapping, then that poor Malcolm kid, now this? What did we ever do? We're the good guys! We have to stop this! This isn't fair!" Numbuh three ranted, kicking over a chair.

"Hey...Kuki? I had my doubts about you, but guess what? It's not fair. God will punish the wicked, and before he does, we will" Holly climbed on a chair and Numbuh three turned around.

Cadel grinned.

Lincoln sat down in another chair.

"What's the plan, O fearless cousin?" Numbuh four asked, grinning. His cousin was the coolest girl on the planet.

Holly made sure that everyone was paying attention.

"Roight then. Here's what we're going to do..."


	14. Chapter 14

Lincoln opened the door to the weapons room back on The Yellow Submarine. All of them had gotten back from the Abracadabra District alright, but that wasn't what was bothering him.

Cadel Young was sitting at a table, working on some 2x4 technology with Hoagie and telling him about his gloves. "You swing your fist around, and the centrifugal force creates energy, and the energy is powerful enough to knock through walls" Cadel explained, tossing a new 2x4 tech to the side. "Seriously?" Hoagie asked. "Dead serious. It's the coolest thing ever" Cadel announced. He looked up when Lincoln opened the door.

"Howdy there, Lincoln. Heard about the Menagerie and Holly. 'You look pretty'? Very suave, Mr. Debonair" Cadel said, smirking and pulling off his goggles.

Lincoln slammed the door. "Who'd you hear that from?" he hissed.

"Ingrid, who heard if from Wally. So Lincoln and Hol-" Lincoln picked up a newly minted 2x4 tech and shot at Cadel.

Cadel ducked.

"Touchy" muttered Numbuh two.

"I hate you all!" Lincoln complained, sitting down on a nearby bench.

Cadel looked up. "Hey, I'm sorry, alright? Normally, I would mock you for hours for liking her, but I feel...sorry and sympathetic, okay?" Cadel climbed over the table.

"Wait a sec. I remember hearing something about that from Numbuh three!" Numbuh two exclaimed.

"Hear what?" Lincoln and Cadel asked at the same time.

"I heard from Numbuh three who heard it from Ingrid who heard it from Holly that she likes you!" Numbuh two frowned, "That Holly likes you" he finished.

"I dunno...I really don't want to deal with this now..." Lincoln fidgeted.

"Jeez! You're such a baby! Look, Operation Final Crusade could kill us all, and then you'll have to live with regrets that you never dealt with Holly and your own issues" Cadel ranted, running his fingers through his hair.

"I deal with it later" Lincoln muttered, staring at the floor.

Cadel sighed. "Look. I really didn't want to do this, Lincoln, but you leave me no choice..." Cadel trailed off, and then pointed at Lincoln.

"I am issuing a famous Ultimatum!" Cadel announced.

"What the heck is an Ultimatum?" Lincoln asked, looking from Cadel to Hoagie.

"It's a...um...a...haven't a clue, actually" Hoagie said, looking down to fuse a loose connection in the 2x4 piece he was working on.

Cadel blushed.

"You don't know what an Ulti-whatsit is either, do you, Cadel Young?" Lincoln leaned back.

"Okay, I don't know what an ultimatum is-"

"Aha! Knew it!"

"Oh shut up. Go talk to Holly."

"Never in my life!"

"Oh really?" Cadel asked, raising a 2x4 tech he had just finished.

"Do it and I kick your teeth in" Lincoln snarled.

"Right" Cadel said, and started shooting.

Cadel wasn't aiming to kill, just bruise and severely annoy. "Stop it!" Lincoln tried to seem tough, but he was laughing. Lincoln stumbled out the door, swearing and laughing, and he bumped into Holly.

Cadel and Hoagie ran down the hallway, their laughter and footsteps echoing as if they at the bottom of a well.

"Hey, Holly"

"'Ello?"

Lincoln ran a hand through his hair.

There was an extremely awkward silence.

"Lincoln..." Holly started to say, but then Lincoln cut her off.

"Look Holly you probably think I'm crazy but I think you're kind of cute and I love your accent and you and the way you fight and I tried to tell you three times in the Menagerie because I thought we would die, this, y'know the three words and all that garbage, and I'm not so good with feelings but I love making you laugh and I'm probably making it worse, but here's the thing, I'm kind of in love with you"

Lincoln managed to say all this only breathing twice.

"Oh" Holly said.

"Just Oh?" Lincoln asked, thinking that he should run.

Holly smiled.

"You can't spell love without an Oh" she whispered.

Holly stood on her toes and kissed Lincoln.

One end of the hallway erupted in cheers.

Cadel and Hoagie had ran and gotten everybody to come watch.

Lincoln and Holly blushed.

"Lincoln and Holly sittin in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" Numbuh three chanted.

"Lincoln, you prince of thieves you!" Ingrid screamed, laughing.

Numbuh four whistled.

Cadel and Numbuh two high-fived.

Holly just smiled, turned around, and kissed Lincoln again.

"OOOOOOOHHHH!" everybody screamed.

"Wow" Lincoln whispered.

"I know, roight?" Holly whispered back, and then screamed "Come on, you lot! We're infiltratin' the Printworks in 24 hours and I want everythin' to run smoothly! STEP TO IT!"

Everybody scattered, laughing and planning.


	15. Chapter 15

There it was.

The last meeting in the Yellow Submarine.

Everybody was hanging around in the room with the couch and the TV, not saying anything.

"Well. This is it. We either live or die" Cadel said, kicking the leg of the couch.

"Aw, c'mon man, it's been fun" Numbuh five said.

Cadel managed an eighth of a smile.

The submarine seemed so quiet as everybody suited up in the weapons room. "Take everything you can guys, no matter what happens, we're not coming back" Lincoln said, without his usual swagger. He'd always been living in Havoc, and most of what he knew about earth he had learned from his friends.

Cadel and Hoagie had been working on new armor, in addition to 2x4 tech. "It's going to protect you from whatever we face, hopefully..." was all Numbuh two had to say.

"From all the moaning and complaining I've been hearing, you'd think you'd want to stay here" Numbuh one said, putting on his sunglasses.

"Hey, listen up, you guys, if we die and anybody here isn't heaven-cred, I'll put in a good word for you with the Big Guy, okay?" Ingrid said, picking up her problem stick.

"Thank you Ingrid, I feel loads better" Cadel called, pulling on his gloves and picking up a hoverboard.

"Just here to help, my good friend"

"Let's go!" Holly called, her voice echoing through the submarine.

"Do we have everything?" Cadel asked, clearly worried.

"Yes! Shut up! You and Numbuh two are the most important parts of the mission, so don't mess up out there!" Numbuh one yelled at Cadel.

"No pressure" Ingrid joked, punching Cadel's arm.

Everybody got Hoverboards, and everybody was silent as they made their way to the Printworks. "Turn Left!" Lincoln called from the front of the group.

They all turned left, except for Numbuh Three, who accidentally turned right.

The Printworks more resembled a high tech security prison. An eight foot tall cinderblock wall surrounded the perimeter, with barbed wire looped over the top of it. A metal spiked ten foot tall gate was the only way in or out. Searchlights scanned the surrounding area, and guards that had been modified at the Shock Box loped around the wall, scanning for intruders.

"Wow" Numbuh four whispered.

"So, do we get the key?" Numbuh two whispered.

"I got it. Let's go!" Cadel whispered back.

"Wait! You forgot the stuff!" Ingrid whispered, throwing a bag to Cadel.

The two boys picked up their hoverboards.

"So, how's this work again?" Numbuh two asked.

"Pay attention next time. But our Hoverboards will pick up metal traces, or just metal, like the gate. So we just go over the gate" Cadel explained, pulling down his goggles.

"What! That's impossible! It's too sharp of an angle!" Numbuh two cried.

"Okay, first off, you're inside an alternate universe inside a comic book, and you're calling something impossible. Second, all we need is a running start"

"I hate you"

"Right back atcha"

The two boys coasted around the searchlights and the guards, heading for the gate.

"We're totally going to burn out" Numbuh two whispered.

"Whatever. On three. One..." Cadel shifted his weight.

Numbuh two sighed.

"Two..." He whispered.

"THREE!"

The two boys burst out like rockets, going from nothing to two hundred miles an hour. The clamps went over both their feet and 'SLOW DOWN' appeared on both their Hoverboards.

Both of them went faster.

Cadel's Hoverboard began to smoke at around three hundred miles an hour.

Cadel gritted his teeth and shifted all his weight forward, and Numbuh two copied him.

It was around four hundred miles an hour when both Hoverboards simultaneously caught fire, but by then it was too late.

Cadel and Hoagie took the gate at four hundred miles an hour.

They hit the gate and went straight up and over.

The span between taking the gate and hitting the ground seemed to last forever.

They both hung in the air, Hoverboards on fire, and then Hoagie yelled "We're flying!"

"Not we're not! We're just falling in style!" Cadel yelled back.

Numbuh two laughed, and then the drop was over.

Both boys rolled to a halt and took off their Hoverboard clamps.

"I'm not on fire, am I?" Numbuh two asked.

"Nope. Me?" Cadel asked back.

"Nah" Numbuh two shook off the dirt and stared at the menacing Gray Printworks.

"You got the key, right? So we just go through the door?" Numbuh two asked.

Cadel hesitated.

"Not exactly..."

Cadel pulled a grappling hook out of the bag that Ingrid gave him.

"No. Nuh uh. Ixnay on that Anplay" Numbuh two crossed his arms.

Cadel just laughed. He swung the grappling hook over his head and threw it high against the Printworks.

"You comin or what?" Cadel asked.

"Coming" Numbuh two sighed.


	16. Chapter 16

"Man. I don't care how many times Batman and Robin do this, I still hate it" Hoagie puffed as Cadel and himself had climbed to the top of the wall.

"It builds character. I wonder how high up we are?" Cadel asked, staring down at the ground below.

"I can't even see anyone else from up here" Numbuh two said.

"We can look at the ground later. We got a factory to explode!" Cadel exclaimed, wandering off across the roof of the Printworks.

"So what now?" Numbuh two asked, kicking aside debris as he followed.

"You didn't pay attention at all, did you?"

"Nope. What's the plan?"

"Just follow me"

Cadel walked over to a chimney that had been barricaded off. Reaching into the bag of stuff that Ingrid had handed him, he pulled out a couple of Cherry Bombs. "This might get loud" Cadel murmured, pushing down on the centre of the bombs. Then he put the bombs on the chimney.

Cadel backed up as the bombs exploded.

"C'mon, hurry, somebody probably heard that" Numbuh two worried.

Cadel climbed into the hole, bracing himself by pressing his hands and feet on the other side of the hole. "More Climbing. Great" Numbuh two muttered, climbing into the hole after Cadel.

Numbuh two's fingers were still on the ledge as a searchlight swept across the hole.

Both boys froze.

One Second.

Two Seconds.

Three Seconds.

Four seconds.

Five seconds.

The searchlight moved on.

Both boys let out identical sighs of relief.

"Let's keep going" Cadel whispered.

It wasn't long before their arms started to shake.

The strain of pushing against the walls to hold themselves up was hard on their muscles, and their backs started to ache from the strain.

"Can't we just let go?" Cadel whined.

"Sure, as long as there's no trap at the bottom" Numbuh two commented.

There was a silence, only broken by the scuff of their boots on the sides of the passage.

"Just hold on, it can't be that much longer" Cadel whispered.

Cadel foot hit a grate with a loud CLANG.

"Shh!" Numbuh two shushed him.

"You shh. I found the way in!" Cadel exclaimed.

Cadel lifted his arm off a wall, and reached with scraped-up hands into his boot for the key.

Unfortunately for Cadel, trying to get a key out of your boot while the boot is currently being used to keep yourself from falling is not an easy task.

Cadel had almost fallen down for the fourth time when he finally got the key.

"I got it!" he screamed, his voice echoing around the Chimney.

"SSHHH!" Numbuh two shushed him again.

"Shhut it" Cadel muttered, leaning forward and opening the grate.

The two boys crawled past the grate.

"Holly said it was 64 pulls" Numbuh two whispered.

"We should get going then. Do you have your 2x4?" Cadel asked, brushing dirt out of his eyes and pulling on his gloves.

"Yeah"

"Excellent"

After a while, (fifty-three pulls, to be exact) they arrived at a vent.

"On three, ready? One…" Cadel whispered.

"Two…." Numbuh two whispered.

"THREE!" both boys shouted, and kicked the vent inwards.

Both boys dropped into the room.

Cadel shot at a snake-like creature sitting in a chair, and Numbuh two easily took down an ogre standing by a control panel.

"Tie 'em up!" Cadel commanded, tossing some rope to Numbuh two.

Both boys helped tie up the new captives, making sure that neither one had anything that could've helped either one escape.

"Alright, we can do this" Cadel stated, staring down a complex control panel that looked like it belonged in a 747.

"Heck yeah!" Numbuh two proclaimed, punching the air triumphantly.

Cadel rolled his eyes and started pressing the buttons.

"I kind of expected the Control Room of the Printworks to be a lot more…" Numbuh two trailed off.

"Intimidating?" Cadel filled in.

"Yeah. C'mon, we gotta get everyone else in too" Numbuh two started to shut down the searchlights.

"Aye Aye, sir!" Cadel quipped, pressing the buttons that would disable security.


	17. Chapter 17

"Did you find her?"

"Yes, Holly, I found Kuki Sanban"

"Hiya you guys!"

"Kuki, shh!"

"Oh, sorry Lincoln, my bad"

"Where's Nigel?"

"I'm over here"

"Oh...Hi"

"Hi?"

"Whot's taking those two so long?"

"I dunno, Wal. D'ya think they're okay?"

"LOOK! OVER THERE!"

"SHHH!"

The searchlights around the Printworks had tilted forward and gone out.

Everybody got on their Hoverboards.

"Ready, on three, okay?" Holly whispered.

The gate started to open.

"Three!" Kuki shouted, and everybody sped off.

"No! On the count of three!" Holly screamed, but followed them.

The front doors of the Printworks screeched open as everyone got there.

"Okay, we should split up. I'm gonna go with-" Holly started to say.

"Lincoln" Numbuh five said.

"No! I'm going with Wal! Team Beetles, just like the training days" Holly punched her younger cousin's arm.

"Numbuh five's with Lincoln" Numbuh five pulled her hat down onto her head.

"Ingrid, Numbuh three, looks like you're with me, then" Numbuh one said with authority.

"Pssh. Whatever, man. We're totally awesome" Ingrid said, bumping Numbuh one with her Hoverboard. "Let's go, then! Be careful and stay with your group" Lincoln said, coasting off down a hallway, with Numbuh five following him.

Holly and Numbuh four coasted down a hallway. "Whot exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Numbuh four asked, trying to keep his balance.

"Load bearing pillars. Mechanical stuff. That koind of thing" Holly said.

Thump.

"Did you hear that?" Numbuh four asked.

"Look" Holly pulled to a stop. "D'ya see that? It's a security camera. Cadel and Hoagie can see us. Nothing bad's gonna happen"

Up in the control room, Numbuh two was, indeed, watching Holly and Numbuh four.

"Uh oh" he said.

"Uh oh? What's up?" Cadel asked running over to see what was wrong.

"Something we're not prepared for" Numbuh two muttered.

"Then it's not Uh Oh. It's Oh No" Cadel said.

THUMP.

"It's getting louder" Numbuh four muttered.

The caged fluorescent lights above them started flickering.

"C'mon, Cadel, do something" Holly murmured.

THUMP.

THUMP.

THUMP.

THUMP.

A pipe overhead broke, shooting steam.

Holly screamed, and then regained herself.

"I'll go…see whot it is. Stay here. And keep your 2x4 or something out" Holly said, tightening her pigtails.

Holly coasted on her Hoverboard to the end of the hallway, and then turned left.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Something moved at the end of the hallway.

Numbuh four took aim with the 2x4 tech that Cadel had given him.

It was just Holly.

"Holly! Don't do that!" Numbuh four yelled at his cousin.

"Sorry! There's nothing there, so we should keep moving" Holly replied, adjusting her footing.

"Okay…" Numbuh four replied.

"No! Numbuh four! Don't fall for that!" Cadel yelled.

"We had to deal with our negative selves once and if-"

"Yeah, well, Childcatchers aren't negative; they're like, composed of all your fears and insecurities. That's why they're so effective" Cadel explained, pacing the floor of the control room.

"So….There's nothing there?" Numbuh four asked. He thought that he heard something.

"What? No! Don't be stupid. Of course not. There's nothing scary there…" Holly trailed off and Numbuh four turned around.

"Except for me"

Numbuh four spun around, and Holly was gone.

"Holly? Where are you?" Numbuh four asked.

"I'm right here"

Numbuh four turned around again.

Nothing. Just empty hallway.

"You gonna put up a fight again? I'm not just going to knock you out this time. I'm going to kill you. Your cousin too, and you wanna know why? You're just kids. You're just stupid kids trying to take on something that you can't fight"

Numbuh four tried to ease the panic and figure out where the voice was coming from.

"Look up! UP! Numbuh four, LOOK UP!" Numbuh two shouted.

"Where are you? Come out and foight me! I can take you!" Numbuh four shouted, his voice echoing down the hallway.

He had to think. Think! Where? Blind spot, Blind spot, where's Holly, is she okay, find the blind spot….

"Wal! It's me! This way!"

Holly's voice rung out from the other end of the hallway.

Holly! She was okay!

Numbuh four shot towards the sound of Holly's voice.

He turned the corner.

And there she was.

She had some deep scratches in her arms and across her face and she had a split lip.

"Whot's going on 'ere?"

"Childcatchers. Loads of 'em. We're probably the first, but we should warn everyone else" Holly panted, sticking her arm out to the right.

Holly grabbed the bomb that shot up and looked for a spot to put it.

"Once you plant that thing, how long so we have?" Numbuh four asked.

"About…thirty minutes, maybe"

"Maybe?"

"Yes. Maybe" Holly sighed, and wiped some blood off her face.

"Actually, You two don't have very long at all"


	18. Chapter 18

"Where'd they go!" Cadel yelled.

The security camera that had been focused on Numbuh four and Holly had fizzled to static and then gone out.

"Childcatchers, jeez, what next? This is not going well at all" Numbuh two fretted.

"How're the prisoners?" Cadel asked.

"I put them outside and locked the door with an encryption lock. Why?" Numbuh two responded.

"No reason" Cadel said flatly.

Something skittered under a desk.

"What was that?" Cadel asked.

"Something to tear us limb from limb, no doubt" Numbuh two deadpanned.

"Scary thing is, you're probably right" Cadel pulled out his 2x4 gun.

"Where are we?"

"Lost."

"Man, this is the Last Time Numbuh five ever let's you navigate."

"Your negative tone is really doing damage to my happiness."

"Lincoln, we are in the Printworks. Your happiness shouldn't be as high on your list as survival"

"Women."

"Pansy."

"Don't make me shoot at you."

"You'd miss, anyway."

"I am so bored! Nigel, when do we get to blow something up?" Ingrid whined.

"Later, Ingrid, much later" Numbuh one responded.

Numbuh three hung behind both of them. The floor in the hallway was made of white and black checkerboard tiles. And not the linoleum that you saw back on Earth, either. It was actual tiles.

Numbuh three pulled to a stop to stare at one of the black tiles.

Nothing was reflected in it. As a matter of fact, the light seemed to disappear.

"Kuki? What're you doing? Times a-wastin'!"

Numbuh three heard Ingrid call her, but she didn't care.

She kneeled on her Hoverboard to get a closer look at the tile.

"Kuki? Dude. Cut it out. You're freakin me out"

She reached out a sleeve-covered hand toward the Black Tile.

"KUKI DON'T!"

Ingrid flew down the hallway on her Hoverboard toward Kuki Sanban.

"Whot's going on out here?" Numbuh one asked.

The tip of Kuki's sleeve brushed the tile just as Ingrid pulled her up. "What?" Kuki asked, looking down at her hand.

She screamed.

The Black light-eating substance on the tile had spread to her sleeve, and was starting to spread up her arm like oil.

"GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" Kuki screamed.

"Gimme your hand!" Ingrid instructed, grabbing Numbuh three's arm and taking a knife off the side of her Hoverboard.

Ingrid deftly cut the black part off Kuki's sleeve off and dropped it to the floor, on top of another black tile.

The green fabric passed through the tile and disappeared.

"Why'd you do that? Huh? Use your brain next time!" Ingrid snapped.

Numbuh three stared down at the floor.

"Whot was that?" Numbuh one asked.

"Ladies and Gennlemen, meet Black Paint. It eats everything that it comes in contact with, so don't touch it, like, ever. I told you guys about it, remember? And Kuki, for the love of all that's good, don't touch anything that looks either cool or dangerous" Ingrid explained, tightening her hair back into its spiky pigtails.

"Okay" Numbuh three sniffed.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay? Just don't do it again" Ingrid pulled Numbuh three to her feet.

"Wait. For the black paint to work, it had to be fresh, right?" Numbuh one asked.

"Right" Ingrid responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you think that they knew we were coming?" Numbuh one asked.

Silence.

"Oh Jeez" Ingrid breathed.

"Yeah. I thought so" Numbuh one murmured.

"Guys guys guys we gotta hide someone's coming!" Numbuh three screamed.


	19. Chapter 19

"I swear, I thought that they were right here…AAHH!"

"Oh. Guys, you can come out now! It's Just Lincoln and Abby."

Numbuh one looked out from behind a pillar. Ingrid had leapt down from an overhang and landed on Lincoln. Lincoln looked like he'd been assaulted by Dopey the Dwarf.

"How'd we run into you guys? We went opposite ways, right?" Numbuh three asked confused.

"I really, really suck at directions. Anybody seen or heard anything from Team Beetles?" Lincoln asked, shoving Ingrid off him.

"Nothing at all. They're probably okay" Ingrid said.

"Anybody notice how quiet it is here?" Numbuh one asked.

"Pssh. No" Ingrid dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"Ingrid, the only reason you haven't noticed is because you haven't stopped talking for more than five minutes" Numbuh five said.

Numbuh one heard a high-pitched whine.

"Uh…guys…?" he said, but nobody paid any attention.

Numbuh one got on his Hoverboard and coasted down the Hallway. The whine grew louder, and now it was punctuated with mechanical thumps and hisses.

Numbuh one got to the end of the hallway.

"GUYS!" He called.

"I see they found the main Printing floor."

"Yes. It's all going according to plan."

"Should I go attack them, Father?"

"No. Not yet. Wait for the Childcatchers. I'm finally going to get rid of the Codename Kids Next Door!"

"We, Father. We"

"Yes, Malcolm. We."

A narrow walkway suspended on cables hung from the ceiling, reaching from one wall to the other. Other narrow walkways ran underneath, crisscrossing each other and spanning across the printing floor.

Underneath the Walkways, machines clunked, printed, inked, whirred, and bound copies of Havoc to be sold on Earth.

"Whoa!" Numbuh five whispered.

"Yeah. All the little workers look like ants!" Numbuh three exclaimed.

Lincoln rolled his working eye.

"So we just drop the Tabasco Bombs into the machine, right?" Ingrid asked.

"Yeah. We drop six or seven, the entire machine melts, and then we run away" Lincoln answered.

"Sure. Just put some other Tabasco Bombs on the walls and stuff. Y'know, so that they can't follow us" Numbuh one said.

Lincoln looked down.

He wasn't good with directions. He got lost too easily in enclosed spaces.

He also didn't like heights.

Never did, Never will.

The fact that he could fall to his death if he took a step the wrong way was a bit too risky, thank you very much.

All the same, he didn't want to look like a baby in front of everyone else.

"I'll go first" Lincoln said.

"Legit?" Ingrid asked, but everyone just ignored her.

Lincoln got off his Hoverboard and walked down the walkway.

Ten more steps….

Nine more steps….

Up in the Control room, Cadel and Numbuh two watched Lincoln.

"What's that?" Cadel asked.

"What?"

"That huge black shadow thing" Cadel pointed it out.

"Not good, that's what it is" Numbuh two responded.

Lincoln pulled some Tabasco bombs out of the pocket of his trenchcoat.

Something shoved him off the walkway, and Lincoln grabbed a support cable to keep from falling off.

"Oops. How clumsy of me"

"What the heck?"

Lincoln swung back onto the walkway, and faced down his Other Self.

"Oh. It's you" Lincoln said, trying to figure out how his own Childcatcher could exist, since Lincoln had never been caught.

"Yep. It's me. Or you. But do you know who it isn't? It's not Holly. It's not Matilda" Other Lincoln sneered.

"Shut up!" Lincoln snarled.

"Oh, but it's true, isn't it? You let her die; you killed her, didn't you? You left, even though you knew that she'd die, you killed Matilda-"

"SHUT UP! SHE WANTED ME TO LEAVE! SHE SAID THAT I HAD TO!" Lincoln screamed.

"People lie, Lincoln. If you haven't figured that out, then you're even stupider than I thought" Other Lincoln sighed and slid out his nails.

"Oh my gosh!" Ingrid screamed. She had just watched Lincoln be shoved off the walkway by his Other Self. "We have to go help him!" Numbuh three squealed.

"Oh, you lot aren't going anywhere"

Everybody who had been clogging the door turned around.

An entire team of Childcatchers, one for everybody, was standing behind them.

Everybody vaguely heard Lincoln screaming something.

"Nice to see you again" Other Nigel said. "I missed you" Other Ingrid spat.

"Uh Oh" Numbuh three Whispered.

"Oh no" Cadel said up in the control room.

"What's wrong?"

"Childcatchers everywhere, and Holly and Numbuh four are officially MIA and on top of it all, we're stuck in here and…"

Cadel heard something.

It was quiet, almost silent, but he still heard it. It was like a knife sliding through velvet.

Cadel slipped off the chair and onto the floor just in time. His own Childcatcher sunk his nails into where Cadel used to be.

"What…? But how? We locked the door!" Cadel sputtered, scooting away across the floor.

Other Cadel laughed.

"Stupid Kid. I knew the password. I am your other half, after all."


	20. Chapter 20

"Oh no. No no no no no." Numbuh three worried.

"You have failed!" Other Numbuh one hissed.

Ingrid, who was standing near the back of the group, curled her hand over the handle of her problem stick.

"Ahh!" Lincoln screamed, as his double lunged at him. "Quit moving! I don't want to make a mess" Other Lincoln said maliciously. Other Lincoln swiped again and shredded Lincoln's jacket. "No! I loved this jacket! I had it since I was seven!" Lincoln screeched.

Other Lincoln sighed, and planted his foot in the middle of Lincoln's chest.

"Farewell, Lincoln. May you die a slow and painful death"

Other lincoln pushed his foot forward and Lincoln toppled off the walkway.

"I don't understand. How?" Cadel asked, trying to put some distance between himself and the humanization of all his past mistakes. "Because you're an idiot, that's why you don't understand" Other Cadel smashed his fist down onto a circuit board, breaking it and sending sparks everywhere. Cadel flinched, and saw Numbuh two hiding under a nearby table.

Numbuh two slowly pointed across the room, to an area in between two machines covered in dials.

Cadel followed it and saw a short, squat cylinder sitting on the ground. Cadel squinted, and figured out immediately what it was.

His odds had just gone up.

Ingrid looked frantically around the hallway. There was no way that she could fight her way out. No way that they could outrun them.

However...

Oh this'd be one for the books.

"EVERYBODY RUN!" Ingrid screamed and shoved them all forward.

Everybody stampeded and the Childcatchers were too slow to react.

"What the heck!" Other Numbuh five exclaimed.

"Keep going, and watch where you step" Ingrid ordered.

"C'mon! Let's kill them all!" One of the Childcatchers shouted.

Other Lincoln laughed maniacally, almost perfectly too, like he'd been practicing. He stared at his hand, waiting for it to fade away and signify that his job was done.

Nothing happened.

Other Lincoln's evil laugh degraded into a snarl. He shook his hand from side to side, as if it would finally work and clear it.

"It's not an Etch-a-Sketch, my fake evil twin"

Other Lincoln looked down over the side of the walkway. Lincoln was about a jump below him, standing on another, parallel walkway.

"Surprise" He called.

The duplicate snarled angrily and jumped down onto the walkway.

Lincoln grinned. He wasn't planning on going down without a fight.

"How could you've figured all this out?" Cadel asked, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. "It wasn't that hard. You can't do anything. Remember that one time that you almost drowned at summer camp? Nobody wanted to be your friend after that. Heck, nobody wants to be friends with you. You spend all your time holed up in your room tinkering with gadgets that you stole from all over your house instead of being outside!" Other Cadel seemed to be going into a monologue.

Cadel didn't mind. He inched across the floor, headed for the cylinder that would win him the fight.

"You couldn't even keep your parents together"

Cadel froze.

"Say that to my face" Cadel spat.

"I said, that you couldn't even keep your par-"

"SHUT UP!" Cadel roared, throwing a rock from his pocket at his evil counterpart.

"Oh, you're ready to fight now? Use that big kid intellect of yours for something other than plots and garbage weapons" Other Cadel asked, sliding out his nails.

Cadel faltered. He hadn't planned for this.

Cadel dashed madly to the side, in between the two machines.

"Oh Cadel, don't hide. That's an icky way to go out" Other Cadel said.

Where was it? It was right here a second ago...

"Here I come! One step, two step, three step, four step.." Other Cadel singsonged.

Aha!

Cadel pried the lid of the cylinder off with his fingernails, and turned around.

Other Cadel had raised his hand above his head, sure he would win.

Cadel tossed the contents of the Cylinder on his childcatcher.

Other Cadel froze, staring down at his formerly white shirt.

Black paint crawled up Other Cadel's arm and down his leg.

"I don't believe it" he whispered.

"Believe it" Cadel whispered.

The black paint spread over Other Cadel's face and the collapsed in on itself, swallowing him as if he never was.

"Ingrid! Dead end!" Nigel shouted.

"Nobody stepped on any black tiles, right?" Ingrid asked.

"Ingrid, you are, officially the second coolest person Numbuh five has ever met" Numbuh five proclaimed.

"First being yourself, right? It's good to know you're humble" Ingrid joked.

Other Ingrid finally rounded the hallway. Black paint was spreading up her leg, but she didn't notice. "I finally caught you. You're cornered" She hissed.

"Right" Ingrid said.

"Where's everyone else?" Numbuh one asked.

Other Ingrid looked behind her.

"Father painted the tiles with black paint, thinking that we'd be stupid enough to walk on them. You fell for it, but we didn't. I feel really cool right now" Ingrid explained.

Other Ingrid looked down, and saw that the black paint had spread over her legs and had reached the bottom of her ribs.

"What're you going to do with yourself, Bing? You can't go home, not to pageants and the safety of normal life. You love living here, even more than earth, and what're you going to do when earth rejects you?" Other Ingrid hissed. The black paint had spread up her torso.

"What?" Ingrid asked.

"You heard me. You can't face getting up day after day to so the same boring thing day after day and this world is different. You could die at a moment's notice, and you love that. You love knowing that there's no repetition" Black paint flowed into other Ingrid's mouth and poured out her tear ducts.

"Yeah, well when I leave, I'm not coming back, so there!" Ingrid shouted.

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Other Ingrid whispered, and then she was gone.

Lincoln got hit in the face.

It hurt a lot.

Other Lincoln opened his mouth wide, preparing to bite down on Lincoln's neck.

Not this time.

Lincoln sank one of his fingers into Other Lincoln's uncovered eye.

Other Lincoln howled in pain and let go.

Lincoln fell back to the walkway and tried to ignore how high up he was.

He backed up, trying to formulate a plan that didn't involve him dying.

Other Lincoln looked up. His eye was in bad shape.

However, Lincoln mused, it was probably better than his left eye.

"What're you grinning for? I'll give you something to smile about!"

"Oh, is it a joke? I like jokes!"

"You're a joke."

"Technically, since you're part of me, that makes you a joke as well" Lincoln countered. So this is what it felt like to be Cadel.

Other Lincoln ran fast up the walkway.

Lincoln spotted another walkway below the one he was currently on.

He jumped.

He closed his eyes and counted the seconds to impact. He got to four before he landed.

Lincoln misjudged his landing wrong and turned his ankle.

Lincoln swore and struggled to get back up.

He felt Other Lincoln land on his back, his face slamming into the grille of the walkway painfully.

"This time, Link, you're not getting away" He heard Other Lincoln hiss.

Other Lincoln flipped him over and reached into a pocket in his jacket.

Lincoln tried to make sense of the situation, tried to focus. The pain is his ankle was making everything hard to focus on.

"Holly?" Lincoln murmured.

"Dead." Other Lincoln stated.

No. No way. Not his girlfriend.

He

would

Pay.

Other Lincoln found what he was looking for and pulled it out of his pocket.

It was a sewing needle, with black thread looped through it.

Lincoln screamed.

"Don't! No! Don't! Stop it! I've already lost one eye!" Lincoln shrieked, trying to fend off his Childcatcher.

"Hey. Don't worry. It'll only hurt for a second. Then you won't feel anything anymore" Other Lincoln jabbed with the needle, trying to hook it into Lincoln's skin.

Lincoln knew that if he let this happen, he'd become like all the other puppets. Never feeling anything, never needing to eat or sleep or tell the difference between hot or cold.

He'd lose Holly.

Lincoln reached for Other Lincoln's throat. He caught Other Lincoln's windpipe in his fist and squeezed.

Other Lincoln sputtered and dropped the needle, sending it clattering through the slats of the walkway.

Lincoln threw Other Lincoln over the walkway.

Other Lincoln landed on a new shipment of comics. He looked to his side, at one of the pages.

There he was, and in the next panel, it showed something heavy and mechanical.

Other Lincoln looked up just in time for the binding press to land on him.


	21. Chapter 21

"Impressive, If I do say so myself, Father."

"Very well. Prepare for a fight, Malcolm."

"Are you coming with me?"

"Oh yes. I wouldn't want to miss the looks on their faces when they find out you attacked Numbuh 59 and Numbuh 4."

"Very well."

"Lincoln? Dude, where are you?" Ingrid called. "This way" Lincoln called back, his exhausted voice echoing through the hallway.

"Follow that...whatever" Numbuh one said. "Sure. Did you guys detonate the bomb things that Cadel gave you?" Numbuh three asked. "Well, we set them up, sure. We've got enough time to find Holly and Wal and get out alive, trust me" Ingrid responded.

Up in the control room, Cadel sank onto a chair, exhausted. Destroying a Childcatcher, including your own, always exhausted you, and gave you a bit of a head rush. "Where's your Childcatcher, Hoagie?" Cadel asked.

"I dunno. It never showed up, I guess. I guess that they can't catch me!" Numbuh two responded, and burst into giggles.

"Ha ha ha. Hey, one of the camera's is back up" Cadel responded.

"What's on it?"

"Dunno. I can see a person, three or four, actually" Cadel squinted at the fuzzy screen, trying to make out the details.

"Isn't that Holly and Numbuh four?" Numbuh two asked.

"Where?"

"Right there!" Numbuh two pointed to the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

"Yeah! It totally is! But if that's them, then would that be...?" Cadel trailed off.

"That's Father. I'd know that guy anywhere" Numbuh two reached for his 2x4 tech.

"Okay, if that's Team Beetles, and that's Father, then who's tha-Oh No" Cadel opened his eyes in shock.

"What?"

"You Know who that is."

"Isn't that that one kid...y'know, the dead one?"

Cadel sighed.

"He's obviously not dead anymore, is he?" Cadel asked. "No, I guess not" Numbuh two responded. "That was a rhetorical question" Cadel stood up and started to leave. "Hey, where're you going?" Numbuh two called.

"I'm gonna go help. There's obviously some next level stuff going on here, and we're going to need all the Kid Power we can get" Cadel responded.

Numbuh two grinned.

"Let's go."

Lincoln finally pulled himself across the walkway. He felt horrible. He felt exhausted, and flat, like he'd been run over by a train.

He stood up, only to be assaulted by Ingrid.

"Hey! I found you. But now we gotta go find Holly and Wal because we gotta stick to the master plan" Ingrid looked exhausted. She still hadn't changed out of the clothes that she found at the Shock Box, and her pigtails were coming undone.

"You look horrible, Bing"

"You're looking pretty peachy yourself" Ingrid Retorted.

"Guys! Lookit! Over there! I see something!" Numbuh three called.

"That looks like-" was all Numbuh five managed to say before Lincoln interrupted her.

"HOLLY!" He shouted, sprinting towards her and ignoring his own pain.

Lincoln sprinted forward and then slid on his knees for the last couple of steps.

"Holly, Holly, Are you okay, please please please say something, I love you, can you hear me? Holly? Please say something" Lincoln held onto her and pushed some of her hair out of her face.

Numbuh three had found Numbuh four across the room and was helping him stand up. He wasn't able to form coherent sentences yet, but he was obviously trying to tell them something.

"Malchau we goo ru hee meean person, Kuki"

"Shh. It's okay, it's okay" was all that Numbuh three said.

Lincoln gently shook Holly's shoulders.

"C'mon, say something, please, please, anything" Lincoln begged her, hoping, wishing, that she would be alive.

"Uhh..." Holly moaned and one of her eyes flickered open.

"You're okay!" Lincoln exclaimed.

"You..." Holly said slowly.

Lincoln grinned, anticipating her next word.

"...idiot" Holly finished.

Lincoln quit smiling.

"What'd she say?" Numbuh one asked.

"Trap...and you fell for it. Seriously...not...good..." Holly tried to stand up by herself and fell over.

"Trap? What?" Numbuh Five asked.

"Good evening, Kids Next Door."

Father walked into the room. "You monster! You horrible person! How could you've done that...that...surgery? It wasn't meant to be done! He's mentally unstable!" Holly screamed at him.

"Oh, be quiet, you annoying little girl. I didn't think all of you would kill the Childcatchers, but I underestimated you. However, I still have the upper hand" Father announced.

"What upper hand?" Numbuh one asked skeptically.

"Upper hand...Is Malcolm. Father's got Malcolm" Numbuh four said.

"No way. Malcolm's dead, remember?" Ingrid explained,

"Did you see him die?" Father asked softly.

"Well...no..." Ingrid responded. She reached behind her back for her Problem stick.

"Put the bat away, Miss Michelson. I ordered the wolves at the Menagerie to kidnap Malcolm and put him on a separate train. The train went directly to Shock General Hospital and Malcolm was...fixed" Father paced back and forth, keeping his eyes on the KND.

"You didn't fix him! You delightfulized him! You killed him!" Holly screamed

managing to take two steps toward Father before losing her balance.

Father laughed.

"Oh, Numbuh 59, I didn't kill Malcolm, as you so adorably put it. I made him ...better. However," Father paused. "Instead of just explaining it to you, I'll let you see him instead."

The door closed behind them.

Everybody turned around.

There was Malcolm. His hair was still brown, and it looked like he'd tried to cut it, but given up after half an hour. His glasses were the same, but they looked like they'd been cleaned for the first time in half a century.

He wore a suit and dress shoes, but the suit was rumpled and his shoes were untied. Malcolm's eyes, which used to be Dark Blue, had lightened with the Delightfulization to an eerie light blue.

"Hello" Malcolm said.

"Whoa" Ingrid responded.

"Kill them all, Malcolm" Father ordered, and left.

"Yes, Father" Malcolm whispered.

"AAH!"

Everybody looked up.

Numbuh two and Cadel had been hiding up in the rafters. Cadel had slipped off and Numbuh two managed to grab his ankle in time.

"Cadel, seriously, why are you so heavy? Did you wake up this morning and decide to eat nothing but rocks?" Numbuh two complained.

"I'm on a strict diet of protein shakes, falcon eggs, and rocks. It's what makes me so awesome. So either haul me up, or drop me on Malcolm" Cadel said, pulling down his goggles.

"Hello, Cadel Young. I remember you, and now you will suffer" Malcolm said in a monotone, preparing to jump.

"Pssh. You're a Delightful Brat. You can't jump that high" Numbuh four said.

"No, wait. That's not technically true..." Cadel explained, with Numbuh two hauling him back onto the rafter.

Malcolm grinned and jumped. He sprung up into the air and grabbed on to the rafter.

"Malcolm, don't, man. It's quite a drop, for us non-splice folk" Cadel said.

Malcolm smiled, and slid out his nails. He cut through the metal rafter in one stroke.

"Look out!" Numbuh five yelled and dived to the side.

"How does that work?" Numbuh one asked.

"Urgg..." Cadel pushed his way out of the metal rubble. "There's these things in your brain called Perhapsatrons, and the more Perhapsatrons in your brain that are developed, then the more evil you are. When you're delifulized, then all your perhapsatrons are developed" Numbuh two explained. "Right! But Father combined Malcolm's Perhapsatrons with his Childcatcher DNA, so now he's the way he is now!" Cadel further explained, shaking drywall dust out of his hair.

"Wait, but didn't you say that Childcatchers are, loike, a thingy of all your past mistakes or whatever? How does that work?" Holly asked.

"Well...um...it doesn't" Cadel said.


	22. Chapter 22

"So do you mean doesn't work loike Vinegar and Baking Soda doesn't work or doesn't work loike kids and adults doesn't work?" Holly asked quickly, scanning the room.

"Um...like Kids and adults. Except way worse. With his genes all spliced up, Malcolm's completely out of control. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's been given a direct order, and he'll either follow it or die trying" Cadel pulled his goggles back up. The drywall dust had settled, giving him raccoon eyes.

"Well, um, jeez guys, does that mean that we have to kill Malcolm? I don't think I can do that morally" Lincoln reached for his whip, brightening a bit when he saw that he hadn't lost it.

"Where is he, right now?" Numbuh one asked.

Everybody stopped talking.

It was silent.

"This is stupid" Ingrid whispered. She took a big breath and yelled "MARCO!"

"POLO!"

Malcolm leapt from behind a pile of rubble toward Ingrid.

Ingrid swung her fist and hit Malcolm in the face.

Malcolm rolled to a halt and touched his nose with the palm of his hand.

"I am bleeding! My nose is bleeding!" Malcolm yelled.

"Umm...isn't he supposed to be evil or something?" Numbuh five asked.

"Yeah, it's not loike a Delightful...whatever he is to care about a bloody nose" Numbuh four commented.

"No...it's not. Didn't Pre-surgery Malcolm used to hate nosebleeds?" Cadel asked nobody in particular.

"Raa! Bing, you are going to pay!" Malcolm whirled around, his nose still bleeding, but he looked really, really angry.

"Bing?" Numbuh two asked.

"Nickname of Ingrid's. Used to be Bingred, but she hated that" Cadel explained.

Ingrid pulled out a 2x4 tech and started shooting at Malcolm. However, with the new surgery, Malcolm was able to dodge all her shots.

Malcolm pushed her over and wrapped his hands around her throat.

Ingrid clawed at Malcolm's hands as they restricted her windpipe and she tried to breath.

Then, it was almost as if Malcolm finally saw who she was.

Malcolm let go of Ingrid's throat and backed away. Ingrid gasped, trying to get her breath back.

Malcolm looked like he was trying to say something.

"B...Bing. I wouldn't..."

Malcolm then fell over screaming. He rocked back and forth, pressing his temples.

"Whot's going on?" Holly asked.

"I don't know! It's like..." Cadel trailed off.

"I got i-" Cadel started to say, but then the sharp scream of sirens cut him off.

"Printworks collapsing. Printworks collapsing. Please evacuate" An automated voice announced.

"Ahh! What do we do!" Numbuh three panicked.

"How, though? We never set any bombs off!" Numbuh two yelled over the siren.

"It was probably Father. He's destroying his precious Printworks in order to kill us all" Lincoln yelled back.

"No! Wait! It's just me! I just grandly miscalculated, that's all! I was wrong!" Cadel shouted.

"What! You're not allowed to be wrong!" Ingrid screamed.

"Sorry, but the bombs you set off probably had more punch in them than I expected. I modified the Tabasco bombs in your Hoverboards before we set out. I didn't actually get to test them!" Cadel shouted over the alarm.

"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL US WHY?" Lincoln screamed, almost loud enough to drown out the alarm.

"What's wrong? Don't you like surprises?" Cadel asked.

"Shuddup, both of you! Okay, Holly! Whot the crud do we do now?" Numbuh four yelled.

Holly looked like she didn't have an idea.

"Umm...Cadel! D'ya have the gloves?" Holly asked.

"Yeah?"

"Excellent! Punch through a couple of walls, for me, will ya?" Holly commanded.

"Holly! The building's getting weaker by the second! I might punch through a load bearing beam and make the walls collapse!" Cadel exclaimed.

"Look, if I wonted to hear whot was wrong with my plan, I would've asked. So either punch through the walls or we all die" Holly ordered.

Cadel sighed and flipped down his goggles. He started to swing his fist around in a circle, building up centrifugal energy. When the light blue centrifugal energy had built around Cadel's entire hand, he smashed in into the wall.

The wall broke as if it were styrofoam. Everybody could see the surrounding wall around it and beyond that, freedom.

Or, at least, not death, but hey, freedom works too.

"Go! Go! Everybody go!" Lincoln screamed, ushering sector V out first.

"Help!"

Lincoln turned around.

Malcolm had grabbed Holly's ankle, and wasn't letting go.

Lincoln ran in through the rubble, trying to get to Holly.

"No! Lincoln, I got it!"

Holly had managed to kick free of Malcolm's grip, but Lincoln still kept going.

"Holly, c'mon help me lift Malcolm!" Lincoln yelled.

"Are you insane?"

"Yes! No! Probably! Are helping or not?" Lincoln asked.

"...Foine. And only cuz it's you." Holly complained.

"Love ya."

"I Love ya back, but now's not the toime" Holly wrapped one of Malcolm's arms around her shoulders.

"Be like that" Lincoln muttered, holding up Malcolm's other arm.

"Why are they trying to save the guy who tried to strangle me?" Ingrid asked.

"Actually, I think I have some good news, but I still need to do one more test" Cadel explained.

"Let's hope they get out of there soon. I do Not want to see Holly or Lincoln blown to smithereens" Numbuh five said, pulling her hat down further.

Holly and Lincoln ran through the hole in the wall, helping Malcolm. they got to the small spot that they originally started in.

"This is weird. Like Deja Vu or oirony or something" Numbuh four muttered.

"Probably not irony, but yeah, I get your point" Ingrid commented.

Lincoln and Holly dragged Malcolm to the start of the clearing.

"Cadel, you are officially on double probation until further notice" Holly spat.

"OOH...double probation" Numbuh three said reverently.

"For what?" Cadel asked.

"Hm...let's see...first there's the train thing-"

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!"

"Don't interrupt. Then there's the Tabasco bomb fiasco-"

Cadel didn't even get to interrupt.

With a deafening moan, the Printworks fell in on itself. The force of Cadel's last minute Tabasco bombs had even caused the outside concrete to melt and boil like lava. Blackened skeletal metal machinery poked out through the fizzling concrete like bones of a desecrated monster.

The only thing left standing was about a six foot section of the outside wall.

"Um. Wow" Ingrid murmured.

Everyone was silent, baffled by the sheer success of the adventure.

No more kids could show up in Havoc. No more Kids Next Door members would die needlessly.

They had finally defeated Father.

Numbuh one cleared his throat.

"Does this mean that we win?"


	23. Chapter 23

"NO!"

Malcolm's yell echoed through the air.

"Do you have any idea how made Father is going to be? And it is going to be all my fault because I did not kill all of you properly when I was supposed to!" Malcolm paced and ranted, running his hands through his hair and looking like a crazy person fresh off the street.

"Malcolm, seriously. Chill. And second off, I am really, really P.O.'ed that you tried to strangle me" Ingrid responded, glaring at Malcolm.

"What does P.O.'ed mean?" Numbuh three asked.

"Nothing!" Lincoln and Holly said simultaneously.

"Why'd we save him again?" Numbuh two asked.

"Research, Hoagie. Research" Cadel responded, checking his pockets.

Cadel unearthed an extremely squashed bag of M&M's.

"Sweet! Cadel, we're friends, and sugar freaks, so dish the M's or there's gonna be trouble" Numbuh five reached for the M&M's, but Cadel hid them behind his back. "I'm not giving you any M&M's, Abby, because you almost spit on me way back when when we were all trying to get off the train" Cadel responded, ripping off the top of the bag.

Malcolm immediately quit ranting and staring at the M&M's.

"Whot're you doing?" Holly asked.

"Old habits die hard. Malcolm was a die-hard sugar addict. I don't think that even Delightfulization and stuff could take that out of him" Cadel shook the bag of Candy.

"Malcolm, peanut butter M&M's...your favourite, right? I'm right" Cadel held the bag out.

Malcolm took two small steps forward. Malcolm bit his lip. He didn't want to take the candy, candy rotted your teeth, but it was peanut butter M&M's. Peanut Butter M&M's. You cannot pass up Peanut Butter M&M's.

"Well if you don't want them..."

Cadel started to put the candy behind his back.

Malcolm leaped forward, extending his fingernails.

"SHARE, DARN YOU! GIVE THE M&M'S!"

Malcolm roared, stealing the candy and retreating to the corner of the group.

Cadel rolled over, covered in dirt. He was grinning.

"What's up, Doc?" Lincoln asked.

"He's still there" Cadel murmured.

For the next couple of hours, Cadel paced and talked to himself. It was nearly impossible to follow, so everybody was making up their own theories.

"Maybe...um...Malcolm has a split personality disorder?" Ingrid sat down on the dusty ground. Cadel had scribbled some words in the dirt with a stick, but Cadel's writing was Doctor-Prescription messy with a side of horrible spelling.

"Maybe...Malcolm isn't actually delightfulized?" Numbuh four said. He squinted at Cadel's notes, but it was worse than playing pictionary with a two year old.

"Or maybe-" Lincoln's theory was cut short.

"Kidneys." Cadel announced.

"Come again?" Holly asked.

"Kidneys. When you get a kidney transplant, the kidney can either take or not. If it doesn't take, then you reject it. People can reject surgery all the time. Delightfulization is a surgery. Do you see where I'm going?"

Cadel nodded, trying to see if he sounded like somebody insane or somebody insanely crazy.

"Oh! Why'd they Deloightfulize Malcolm's Kidneys?" Numbuh four asked.

Cadel sighed.

"I think Malcolm rejected the Delightfulization surgery" Cadel finally said, running his fingers through his hair to maintain his constant socket hair.

"Okay. Where's he anyway?" Numbuh three asked.

Everybody looked around.

"I see him. He's stuck in a tree" Lincoln said offhandedly, like this kind of thing happened all the time.

"Where?"

"Over there, see Numbuh four? Look, he just fell out of the tree"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I see him now. He okay?"

"Okay, who cares? He's still evil, and we don't have any proof that Cadel's right, no offense" Numbuh five sat down and scribbled in the dirt with her finger.

"Okay, remember the Nosebleed thing? Our Malcolm hated nosebleeds,a characteristic that even the Shock Box couldn't take out of him. Remember when Malcolm tried to kill us but he couldn't? That's the conflicting genes. The Childcatcher genes tell him to kill and destroy and murder his friends because nothing really matters, and Malcolm-the real Malcolm-managed to save us because he knows that we're his friends and that we matter"

Cadel finished his crack science soliloquy and took a breath.

"The candy thing is Malcolm too, roight?" Holly asked.

"Yeah. It is. Malcolm's a total sugar addict, even more so than Abby. He nearly murdered his brother because he stole his Mars bar once" Cadel explained.

"Bing?"

Everybody jumped.

It was Malcolm. His originally crumpled suit was covered in dirt and he had a crack in one of the lenses of his glasses.

"What?" Bing spat.

"Sorry" Malcolm whispered, staring at the ground.

He held something out to her. It looked like a green piece of paper, with fancy calligraphic writing on it.

"Give it" Ingrid ordered.

Malcolm took a step forward, trying not to make eye contact.

Ingrid snatched the piece of paper from Malcolm.

"What that?" Numbuh one asked.

Ingrid smiled.

"Well, Bing, don't keep us in suspense" Cadel reached for it.

"**YEAH!**"

Ingrid screamed the single exclamation to an empty sky. Birds flew from the nearby trees and Ingrid's scream echoed through the ruins of the Printworks.

"Wow. Ingrid be a little louder, I think I can still hear a little" Lincoln grouched.

"It'stheEticket!'sdeadand-"

Ingrid squealed and leaped up and gave Malcolm a hug.

Malcolm looked extremely surprised. He then tried, extremely slowly and like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing, to give Ingrid a hug back.

Ingrid pushed him away and then gave him another hug.

"Ingrid, you are scaring me" Numbuh one eyed her warily.

"It's the E-Ticket!" Ingrid proclaimed, holding it above her head.

"Actually!" Lincoln pushed Malcolm out of the way to get a closer look.

"Hug...?" Malcolm asked softly, but nobody paid any attention to him.

"Yeah! Legit! I love! Yeah! WOOHOO!" Ingrid screamed again.

"So now what?" Numbuh five asked.

"Look, it's a thingy!" Numbuh three screamed and pointed.

A door was lying in the rubble. It looked completely intact, except for the fact that it didn't have a frame.

"I guess we win" Numbuh one said softly.

"Of course we win! This is amazing!" Ingrid spun in the dirt.

"Right. Focus people. Door. In a general that way direction" Cadel pointed.

"Door. Right." Lincoln looked sad.

"Hey, c'mon. It's okay. It'll be alroight" Holly tried to comfort her new boyfriend.

"Yeah. Okay" Lincoln sighed.

"That's great Lincoln, because you're leaving first" Cadel declared.


	24. Chapter 24

"I don't remember agreeing to this" Lincoln said as Cadel pushed him towards the door.

"Yeah, well, if you leave last then you might not leave at all" Cadel explained. "Oh, you trust me, that's good" Lincoln said sarcastically and stuck his hands into the pockets of his torn up jacket.

Lincoln strode over and opened the door.

"Now it's time to go where no man-"

"Oh, just shut up and go. I wanna go home already."

"Fine!" Lincoln snapped and leaped through the black space behind the door.

"Malcolm's next" Numbuh one said, pushing the partial Delightful to the front of the group.

"What if I don't want to go?" Malcolm asked boldly.

"Reason number one why you're going: There's one of you and nine of us. Reason number two why you're going: You'll never see sugar again. Reason number three, I'm older than you, I'm meaner than you, I'm angrier than you, and I fight unfairly. If I had to bet on an outcome of a fight between you and me, I'd bet on me" Ingrid declared, staring Malcolm down.

Malcolm tried to match Ingrid with her stare, but he blinked.

Ingrid pointed at the door with her bat.

Malcolm opened the door and jumped through.

"Who's next?" Ingrid asked.

"Wow, girl, I didn't know you were so vicious" Numbuh five stated, raising her eyebrows.

"The little bugger tried to kill me. No truce yet until Cadel can reverse him" Ingrid reasoned.

"Me next! Me next! Me next!" Numbuh three jumped up and down and waved her arms.

"Get going kiddo" Cadel said, giving Numbuh three a friendly shove.

Numbuh three ran to the door, tripped, and fell through with a shriek.

"Oh, she's fine" Cadel dismissed.

"Hey whot if we all end up in different spots or in the Delightful mansion or something?" Holly asked.

"We didn't close the door, so we'll all end up in the same spot. As for the Delightful mansion, there's only one way to find out" Cadel said.

"Do you ever think anything through?" Numbuh one asked.

"Yes! Science fair, second grade. Actually, now that I think about it, never mind" Cadel leaped though the door before anyone could ask him any more questions.

"Let's all go together!" Ingrid said.

"I don't know if we'll all fit though the door. If we get stuck, I don't think I'd ever hear the end of it from Lincoln" Holly said.

"Don't say Lincoln's name all sing-songy. It's disgusting" Ingrid said.

"You're disgusting."

"I'm aware" Ingrid smirked.

Numbuh two just jumped through without saying anything.

"Thanks for the warning" Numbuh four muttered, and then jumped through the door after him.

"See you all on a different dimension" Holly said, saluting.

Holly climbed through the door, disappearing.

"You go next, Nigel" Ingrid said to Numbuh one.

"Alright" Numbuh one sighed. He took a running start and then kicked his way through.

Ingrid looked around at the landscape, then back at the door. She sighed heavily and then reluctantly climbed through, shutting the door behind her.

Ingrid landed on a heap of all her other team members.

"We need a signal or something that'll let you know when to freaking go" Lincoln said from the bottom of the pile.

"Could somebody please stop standing on my face?" Malcolm asked quietly.

"Oh, that'd be me, wouldn't it? Sorry!" Holly stepped out of the pile.

"State your Numbuhs and keep your hands where we can see 'em!"

Everybody looked up.

They had landed in the KND moon base.

"Where are we?" Lincoln asked.

"Moon base" Holly said.

"Ah. Of course" Lincoln said.

"What's your Numbuh? Answer now or I'll be forced to open fire!"

"Oh, shut up, Fullbroight. It's me, Numbuh 59" Holly spat, puling Lincoln to his feet.

"Oh...What're you wearing?" Numbuh 86 asked.

"I invented it! It's battle armor that probably saved our lives in an alternate universe!" Cadel said, jumping to his feet.

Everybody was silent.

"I'm Cadel" Cadel introduced himself to an astonished Numbuh 86 and breaking the silence.

"Hello...Cadel. I'm gonna go get 362..." Numbuh 86 wandered off in search

of her.

"Wow. WOW. Who was that?" Cadel asked as soon as she was gone.

Lincoln burst out laughing.

"I heard of her! Numbuh 86! Cadel, she eats tech-heads for breakfast!" Lincoln said, in between bursts of laughter.

"She doesn't! Don't be so mean to her!" Cadel defended Numbuh 86.

Lincoln abruptly stopped laughing.

"Please tell me that you don't think that Numbuh 86 is pretty" Lincoln asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"Heh. NO. I don't like her. Not really" Cadel tapped the ends of his fingers together and stared at the floor.

"MALCOLM! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Ingrid screamed. She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. Malcolm had climbed up on a control panel and had started ripping out some wires.

"Never!" Malcolm yelled back, his light blue eyes now full of hate.

"Freaking mood swings making it so bloody difficult to look out for stupid Malcolm and his Gollum ways..." Ingrid muttered.

Holly sighed.

"Malcolm, if you don't stop being an idiot, Ingrid going to be really angry. Loike, Really, really angry. She's still koind of angry at you, so I'd listen to her" Holly tried to reason with Malcolm the sanity challenged.

"I can beat Ingrid in a fight. I will fight you! And I will win!" Malcolm jumped down and landed in front of Ingrid.

"If that's the way it's gonna be, then this moon base ain't big enough for the two of us" Ingrid swung her problem stick experimentally.

Malcolm slid out his nails.

Numbuh 362 rounded the corner, saw Malcolm's nails, and screamed.


	25. Chapter 25

"Sorry...It's just...erm...unexpected, Y'know?"

Once everybody-meaning whole group effort-had managed to calm down Rachel Mckenzie, aka Numbuh 362, everybody had been taken in for questioning.

Lincoln stared at the ceiling, looking like a tourist.

Cadel stared at the floor, looking bored.

"So what happened to you guys? You've been missing for two whole weeks!" Numbuh 362 finally exclaimed.

"Only two weeks?" Numbuh four grouched.

"Shut up, Wal. Alroight, Rachel, this is how it works. You can't say anythoing until we're done, and it's going to sound completely crazy" Holly spun around in her swivel chair.

"Okay, let's hear it. I haven't had a straight answer about you people since you disappeared Holly" Numbuh 362 leaned forward.

Holly took a deep breath and told Rachel exactly what happened.

Two hours later, Holly finally finished.

There was silence.

"Wow. WOW. C'mon, 59, do you actually think I'd believe that?" Numbuh 362 leaned back and glared at Numbuh 59.

Holly faltered "But it's true..."

"Yeah, sure! You could've gotten that armor anywhere! Same with the weapons, and those boys! Everyone knows that Havoc's a myth!" Numbuh 362 fumed.

"But we actually were there! And I'm from America!" Cadel protested.

"Hey!" Lincoln leaped to his feet.

"What?" Numbuh 362 rounded on him.

"You want proof? How's this for proof?" Lincoln snarled and took off his eyepatch.

Numbuh 362 gasped.

Black thread had sewn Lincoln's eyelid shut, and his eyelid seemed to be transparent. You could see his eye through the skin.

"That's disgusting!" Rachel gagged.

"I'm aware. Do you believe me now? We even have the freaking E-Ticket" Lincoln slipped his eyepatch back on.

"Okay. You've got...proof. So I guess that means that Havoc is real?" Numbuh 362 asked.

"Yeah. You can mail order it. It comes out every other month" Malcolm quipped.

"Actually?" Numbuh three asked.

"No. Malcolm, look! Something shiny!" Ingrid pointed behind him.

"Where? Where is the shiny?" Malcolm spun around, looking for an invisible shiny thing.

"It just ran that way! Go chase it!" Ingrid demanded.

Malcolm ran off down the hallway.

"He's still partially evil. Shouldn't you be worried?" Numbuh one asked Ingrid.

"Meh. He's got ADD. He'll be looking for a shiny for hours" Ingrid shrugged.

"GIVE THAT BACK!"

Everybody turned.

Malcolm came running up to Ingrid, holding Numbuh 86's helmet.

Malcolm tackled Ingrid. "Look, Ingrid! Look! I found the shiny! I am a good Malcolm!" Malcolm stared at Ingrid though his glasses.

"Good boy, Malcolm. Please get off my ribcage."

"Are you mad at me?" Malcolm didn't budge.

Ingrid sighed.

"No, I am not mad at you. You're my friend, okay?" Ingrid said.

"Good."

"Well...if you guys could survive Havoc, then I guess I can instate you two into the KND" Numbuh 362 offered.

"All right! Lincoln cheered.

"What?" Numbuh 86 shouted, but was ignored.

"So, I'm just going to need your names, and then I'll just sign you up" Numbuh 362 pulled a clipboard off a nearby desk.

"Me First!" Cadel shoved to the front of the group.

"Name?"

"Cadel Quentin Young" Cadel stated, winking at Fanny Fullbright.

Fanny rolled her eyes.

"Great. You can be Numbuh 360" Rachel wrote down Cadel's name and Numbuh.

"AWESOME!" Cadel punched the air.

"You?" Numbuh 362 asked Lincoln.

"Lincoln" Lincoln stated.

"Middle name and last name?"

"I don't have a middle name or last name. Just make something up, but make it cool" Lincoln stuffed his hand into the pockets of his jacket, one of his hands coming through where it got shredded.

"Okay...how about...Seth? For a middle name?" Holly asked.

"Sure! Lincoln Seth...Pierce" Lincoln smiled a bit.

"Whot is it?" Numbuh 59 asked.

"Nothing" Lincoln responded.

"You can be...Numbuh 74" Rachel wrote that down.

"Cool" Lincoln said.

"And you?" Rachel asked Ingrid.

"I'm Ingrid Michelson"

A muscle near the corner of Numbuh 362's eye twitched.

"When's your birthday?"

"January 22."

"What year?"

"Well, last time I checked, it came once a year."

Rachel glared at Ingrid.

"You're awfully smart...for a 13 year old."


	26. Chapter 26

"I'm not thirteen!" Ingrid declared.

"Hate to break it to you, Ingrid, but your birthday was nearly 3 weeks ago" Numbuh one said quietly.

"I missed my birthday?" Ingrid asked almost silently.

"Yeah. But, hey, at least you got to kill some alternate universe monsters and stuff" Numbuh two lightly punched Ingrid's arm, trying to cheer her up.

"So now that I'm a teenagery adolescent person, I can't join?" Ingrid asked Numbuh 362.

"I'm sorry, but there's no evil teenagers allowed in the Kids Next Door"

Numbuh 362 said.

"Bing's not evil. Well, not much" Cadel said.

"C'mon, just once? Can't you just break the rules for me ONCE?" Ingrid asked. Ingrid looked like she was about to cry.

"Sorry. But this is how it is" Numbuh 362 said.

"Does that mean that she gets to get Decommissioned? I mean, she technically never joined" Holly asked.

"I don't think so, 59. Even if she did go running off to the TND, she wouldn't be able to tell them much about us" Numbuh 86 said.

"Can I at least get a lift back home or something? I left my spaceship back in Havoc" Ingrid asked, staring at the floor.

"It's okay, Bing. We'll get you home" Lincoln said.

"I'm r-r-really gonna miss you guys!" Ingrid howled and burst out crying.

"Hey, Bing Bang, don't cry. It's okay" Cadel gave her a hug.

"I-I'm sorry that I spit on you" Ingrid wiped off her face with the heels of her hands.

"No big deal. You probably just advanced my immune system" Cadel joked, trying to cheer her up.

"I guess so" Ingrid hiccuped.

Ingrid looked at them all. "I'll never forget you, Ingrid Michelson" Numbuh one promised, shaking her hand. "Right back atcha, my good man" Ingrid gave a small smile. "Bye, Ingrid. I'll see you around, I guess" Holly said.

"Yeah, but you won't see me, because I'll be-"

"Deadly serious next time!" Both girls finished and laughed at their inside jokes.

Ingrid followed Holly to where the spaceship was. Ingrid fell behind, running her fingers over the walls of the moon base, which were all knobbly with pipes and wires.

"Ingrid? Where are you going?"

Ingrid turned around. Malcolm was standing in the middle of the hallway, looking at her.

"This is how I'll remember him. Alone. Sad. Not quite getting it." She thought.

"I'm leaving. I can't join because I'm too old" Ingrid explained.

She turned to leave, but Malcolm caught her hand.

"You can't leave! Ingrid, I just feel so dark, sometimes, and I don't know exactly what I am doing because it is too dark to tell, like when I was strangling you? I did not know. I couldn't see you. You can't leave, because you are bright, you are so bright, and when you are around me, I can see, I can remember. You can not leave because I can not go back into the dark" Malcolm gripped onto Ingrid's hand, not wanting to let her go.

"Love of mine, one day you will die, but I'll be close behind. I'll follow you into the dark" Ingrid recited.

"That is beautiful."

"Why thank you."

"Stay."

"I can't, Malcolm. I can't."

Ingrid let go of Malcolm's hands and left the KND. Malcolm watched her go, unsure of what to do or say. He glanced down at his hands, surprised to see that he had taken Ingrid's problem stick out of her hands.

"Where were you?" Holly asked her when she saw her.

"Nowhere" Ingrid said.

Holly landed her spaceship at her clubhouse in sector VX. "Shame you can't stay, really" Holly commented as she opened the door.

"Yeah. See you on the flip side, kiddo" Ingrid left without waiting for a reply.

Ingrid walked down the street, hands in her pockets. She felt around, looking for some money. She produced some coins. Ingrid counted them and then looked around.

A phonebooth sat across the street, looking tired and more worn out than she was.

Ingrid carefully crossed the street and got into the phonebooth.

She inserted her money and stood on her toes to press the numbers carefully.

The phone rang once, twice, three times.

Midway through the fourth ring, the other end picked up.

"Hello? What time is it? Who is this?" A sleepy voice on the other end of the phone inquired.

Ingrid leaned against the wall of the phonebooth.

"Hey, Trav. It's me. Bing Bang. You ever hear of a comic called Havoc?"

**End transmission**.


	27. Not a chapter

Thank yous to all of the people who aren't obliged to read Operation H.O.L.L.Y. And thank yous to those that were obliged because we were friends. Are Friends. Whatever.

This is not a chapter.

And now, for the Copyright Finale!

I do not own:

Froot Loops

Disney world

E-tickets (They actually used to exist. They had them at disney world and they gave you a straight shot to the best rides. I stole the name from Going Bovine by Libba Bray)

Harry Potter or the Marauder's Map (Although I wish I did)

The Tasmanian Devil

The song 1983 (Which belongs to Neon Trees)

Redvines (Again, I wish I owned these too)

Pocky sticks

The song Mardy Bum (Which belongs to the Arctic Monkeys, who are amazing)

The Prince of thieves line (Belongs to Mel Brooks of Men in Tights fame)

Flying/Falling in style line (Belongs to Pixar)

Batman and/or Robin

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Etch-a-Sketches

Protein shakes, Falcon eggs, and ROCKS line (Credit goes 100% to Starkid Productions)

Peanut Butter M&M's

Pictionary

Lord of the Rings

The song I will follow you into the dark (Death cab for Cutie)

Codename Kids next Door

What happened in between chapters:

I had school-related issues and was banned from the site altogether. Most of the chapters were illegally uploaded. Be grateful that you got anything at all.

Now, for the big question:

WTF? Where were you? WE thought you were dead!

Ah, yes. That question. Thing is, I am a bit a technological butterface. I didn't know how to upload the second chapter.

Laugh away. You're next, one day.

So I did the only thing that made sense at the time. I cheated on and went to a teeny little site called Ficwad dot com.

Ah, Ficwad. Home to quite a few My Chemical Romance Fanfics as well as some extremely strange Harry Potter Ones.

So I was on Ficwad for a long time, until...

Oh No! Duck! Run for Your Lives!

A TROLL WENT ON THE LOOSE!

So the troll completely slandered my story, turning it into a fictionary leper. Nobody wanted to read it. (Ratings are complicated. Check it out for yourself.) So I came back.

I came back to and I uploaded like a madwoman.

Everything was fine and dandy. (Copy, paste, convert, upload, put on fanfiction dot net. My computer's having a no-site-names-allowed day. I accidentally skipped over a few chapters, but I put them in. What A headache that was.)

But then (the plot thickens!) I started having problems getting the chapters onto the story. URG. Not fun. So I called for Lassie to help me out. Instead I got James. He said that I should delete my entire story and start over. Being as pigheaded as I am, I decided that I would wait, and it would solve itself.

And it did. Happy Ending, big smiles, Rainbows.

All the same, Thank You, James for helping me out, a little.

Hey, at least you tried.

Big shout-outs and thank you's for Fangirl Numbuhs 1-5. Aka, K.L. Y.M. K.P. and S.M. Dear S, you are Fangirl numbuh 5 because you never answered my emails.

Random stuff:

Ingrid was actually from a Teen Titans Fanfic I scrapped. She was a teleporter with a mechanical arm and an immunity to enemies attacks.

Cadel Young is named after Cadel Piggot from the Evil genius series. He was going to be antisocial and obese and have really bad acne. I changed him a great deal.

Holly Beetles is a purely original idea.

Lincoln is also a purely original idea. I was planning to kill him off, but then I picked Malcolm instead. Apologies, Malcolm fans.

Malcolm is an original OC too.

The entire fanfic was inspired and loosely based on the Malice series by Chris Wooding. He's an awesome writer. All similarities to Malice/Havoc by Chris Wooding are mostly by accident. Seatbelts save lives. I do not own Malice OR Havoc by Chris wooding. They belong to Chris Wooding.

Now, for the Ultimatum (For the record, I actually know what that is):

Write a review.

At least Just Put 'It wuz good'. Seriously. I won't even care about the spelling. If you want to post a bad review, by all means,

BUT,

YOU HAVE TO GIVE A REASON WHY!

I am aware that Holly is a bit of a Mary-sue. *Slams face on keyboard* Please, Please no comments on that. Please.

There is abso-frigging-lutely going to be a sequel, but it's not going to be soon. I'm working on an original project on Ficwad. You find it first by finding Ficwad (Surprising, I know) going to original, going to science fiction, and it should be there somewheres. Look for 'Absalom'. The sequel for operation H.O.L.L.Y. is going on Ficwad first and then onto Fanfiction dot net.

Thank you to those who read to the end. Kudos to y'all. I own everything in this story. If you feel like drawing my characters, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO SO WITHOUT ASKING. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT IN THE OLD COUNTRY, BUT I CALL THAT STEALING!

If you ask, and I say yes, then you are allowed. And send me a link, cuz I'd like to see it.

Keep plastic bag out of reach of children.

Props to K.L. for helping me decide whether Cadel/Fullbright was a good pairing or not. And for, y'know, everything else.

Props to those who let me bum their art classes and hang out. I am aware that I'm loud. Like the Art Teacher. Here's to you, Mr. Wiebe. I hope I spelled your name right.

And now, I am done.

Whyareallthegoodpennamesgone,

Or, to you Ficawadders,

Mynameisnotimportant.


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